Graffiti Artist Hit and Killed by Seattle Monorail in Tragic First

The man, who has not been named, had climbed onto a roof of a building next to the tracks.

Seattle monorail hit and killed a man spray-painting graffiti Sunday night, marking the first fatality in the monorail’s over 60-year history.

Seattle police said the accident occurred just before 9 p.m. The man, who has not been named, had climbed onto a roof of a building next to the tracks, according to KIRO 7.

Seattle’s city council recently considered prosecuting people for graffiti, but a judge struck down the plan saying it would cause censorship issues, KIRO reported.

The monorail was taken out of service following the incident but reopened Monday morning. It runs just under one mile from the Seattle Center to the Westlake Center.

The monorail opened in 1962 and had operated since then without a single fatality.