SALT LAKE CITY — Police were summoned to a TRAX platform near the Gateway mall Saturday afternoon after a man sitting against a pole on the platform was found to be dead, and witnesses report the man may have been sitting there for several hours.
Gary McGrath, a patrol captain with the Utah Transit Authority Police Department, said they were called to the platform near 150 South and 400 West around 12:30 p.m.
“They approached a male that was seated at the catenary pole there, and discovered to be deceased,” McGrath said. “They talked with witnesses in the area, they felt that he’d been there about two hours and there seems to be some evidence to indicate he had been there for about that long.”
McGrath said several people on the busy platform discovered the man was unresponsive. Police believe the man was already dead at that time.
“There is obviously a lot of traffic on the platform and that,” McGrath said. “Some folks gathered around him and tried to wake him up, and they had signaled to a business owner in the area to call police.”
The deceased has been identified as a 57-year-old male. Police said his name is not being released yet, pending notification of his family.
McGrath said they believe the man’s family lives out of state. He said while there are records suggesting the man is from out of state, there are also indications he had been living in the area and is perhaps a transient.
McGrath said at this point they are still investigating the death, but they don’t believe the death was a result of foul play or suicide. He said there doesn’t appear to be anything suspicious about it. A medical examiner will determine the official cause of death.
TRAX service was slowed but not suspended in the area as police investigated.
