Math professor killed on railroad tracks
By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff
A mathematics professor from Wayland was identified today as the person struck and killed by an MBTA commuter rail train in Concord Wednesday night.
Arthur M. Chou, 53, has taught since 1982 at Clark University in Worcester, where he was on the staff of the mathematics and computer science department, according to his resume posted on the school’s website.
"We are all deeply saddened to learn of the sudden and tragic loss of our colleague," David Angel, provost and vice president for academic affairs, said in a statement issued by the college. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the family."
A woman who identified herself as Chou’s wife declined to comment today.
Chou was in Concord near Walden Pond and was trespassing on T property when he was hit by a train from the Fitchburg line around 8:20 p.m. Wednesday, according to the MBTA.
About 12 hours after Chou’s death, a woman was struck and killed at the Sullivan Square Orange Line station.
Authorities in Middlesex and Suffolk counties said the deaths remain under investigation, but that they do not suspect foul play in either case. The woman’s identity was being withheld pending notification of next of kin.
Transit Police Lieutenant Salvatore Venturelli said today that the victim was a black woman believed to be in her 30s who did not have any identification with her at the time of her death. He said she died instantly.
Venturelli and Boston Fire department spokesman Steve MacDonald both said authorities were notified around 9:10 am that a woman had become trapped under a six-car train on the northbound side of the subway line. MacDonald said firefighters needed an hour to extricate the woman from beneath the train.
Venturelli said transit police located a single eyewitness to the event and that person was being interviewed by detectives. He declined to say what information the person had supplied to investigators. He also said the operator of the train was being tested for drug or alcohol use, which is standard procedure for a transit employee involved with a fatality.
On Tuesday, 15-year-old Nicholas Scaringello was struck and killed by a commuter train in Roslindale. Transit police have said the teen and a 15-year-old friend were walking along the tracks when they were surprised by an eastbound express train near the Bellevue Station in Roslindale. The other teen was uninjured.
