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borgslayer
Rear Admiral
Joined: 27 Aug 2003
Posts: 2646
Location: Las Vegas
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 Thu Jan 27, 2005 12:55 am Suicidal Man Causes Train Wreck, 11 People Dead |
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| Quote: | GLENDALE, California (CNN) -- A suicidal man will face murder charges after parking his vehicle on railroad tracks Wednesday, causing a commuter train collision that killed at least 11 people outside Los Angeles, officials said.
"This whole incident was started by a deranged individual who was suicidal," said Glendale Police Chief Randy Adams.
The suspect, identified as 25-year-old Juan Manuel Alvarez, got out of the Jeep Cherokee before impact and watched the collision, Adams said.
Alvarez, whose last known address was in Compton, California, was taken into custody near the scene and will face "at least 10 counts of murder," Adams said before the 11th victim was recovered.
A representative of the district attorney's office said prosecutors would decide on charges Thursday or Friday.
Before being arrested and placed on suicide watch, the suspect was treated for superficial wounds -- cuts to his wrist and chest --that were self-inflicted and not caused by the train wreck, Adams said.
"I think he was intent at that time of taking his own life, but changed his mind prior to the train actually striking his vehicle," Adams said.
Alvarez's sister-in-law, Maricela Amaya, told Telemundo TV that he separated from his wife, Carmelita, three months ago, according to The Associated Press. She said the wife obtained a court order to keep him away, but he had attempted to see his wife and son, AP reported.
"He was having problems with drugs and all that and was violent," Amaya was quoted as saying. "A few other times he went around as if he wanted to kill himself. I said, 'If you're going to kill yourself, go kill yourself far away.'"
Adams said Alvarez has an arrest record for unspecified drug violations and described the suspect as "distraught, remorseful, but cooperative."
"We're very confident that he is the correct individual," Adams said. "Not only through his own admissions, but we actually have a couple of witnesses that were on the train that actually saw him fleeing from the vehicle."
Of the 120 injured, 101 were assessed and released by any of five area hospitals, Los Angeles Mayor Jim Hahn said.
"We are in mourning today," he said, but added that it could have been worse. "When you saw the wreckage inside those cars, it's a miracle there weren't more people lost."
The crash occurred shortly after 6 a.m.
"It sounded like the train was dragging something across the tracks in front of it," said one passenger. "All of a sudden, the lights went out. The train jerked to a stop."
"It was terrible," said another. "I could hear people crying, people covered with blood. It was terrible. To get out of the train, we [had] to break the window and jump off."
Passenger Carol Smith, 50, who was unharmed, told Reuters she was on her way to work and had just stopped reading her newspaper.
"All of a sudden, the train pulls the brakes and jerks and the lights went out," she told Reuters. "I walked by a lot of people who were lying on the tracks and couldn't move."
A spokeswoman for the commuter line, Metrolink, said one of its trains hit the car on the railroad tracks, ran into another Metrolink train and crashed into a parked Union Pacific train.
Alvarez apparently changed his mind after driving onto the tracks, but was unsuccessful in his attempts to remove his vehicle, said Glendale Mayor Bob Yousefian.
"The train coming southbound collided with the Jeep, took the vehicle and put it into the undercarriage which, at that point, started the chain of events which caused all this horrible tragedy," he said.
Rescue operation
A massive rescue operation ensued. Chris Gray, chief of the Glendale Fire Department, said more than 75 agencies were involved in the rescue and recovery, including some from Pasadena and Burbank.
Videotape showed Metrolink passenger train cars on their sides with shattered windows and the metal sheeting peeled backward and crushed inward.
The footage also showed several overturned orange Union Pacific rail cars.
Immediately after the collision, people inside a nearby Costco ran to help. A small fire was quickly extinguished, a relief to emergency workers who worried it might ignite the diesel fuel.
Rescuers spent hours working to free the injured. Search-and-rescue teams used infrared cameras to locate victims and in some cases cut away twisted metal.
Hours after the crash, emergency workers could be seen climbing ladders to access the overturned train cars and remove a body.
At 5:30 p.m., authorities were still combing the wreckage for possible victims.
Police were notifying the relatives of nine male victims and one female victim late Wednesday afternoon.
"At this point, we're in a recovery mission, trying to make sure that, if there are any additional bodies at the scene, they are located," Adams said.
"There may be additional people missing," he said.
A law enforcement official identified one of the dead as Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy James Tutino, a 23-year veteran, who was on his way to work. The 47-year-old resident of Simi Valley is survived by his wife and four adult children, a spokesman said.
Adams said another victim was believed to be a Metrolink employee.
Because commuter trains are involved it is difficult to determine who the passengers are and how many had boarded, Gray said.
Each Metrolink train had three passenger cars and one diesel locomotive, a Metrolink spokesman said. The maximum speed in the area is 79 miles per hour, he said, but the trains were likely traveling slower due to their proximity to a nearby station.
Southbound Metrolink train No. 100, which originates in Moorpark and terminates at Union Station, has an average ridership of 200-250, according to the train line. Northbound Metrolink train No. 901, which originates in Union Station and terminates in downtown Burbank, carries from 30-50 passengers.
Metrolink is Southern California's regional commuter rail service and is in its 12th year of operation. It operates seven routes through a six-county, 512 route-mile network.
The National Transportation and Safety Board mobilized more than 100 investigators to work with local authorities investigating the incident, Adams said. The FBI also sent investigators to the site.
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http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/01/26/train.derailment/index.html
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Five - seveN
Rear Admiral
Joined: 13 Jun 2004
Posts: 3567
Location: Shadow Moon
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| Thu Jan 27, 2005 12:06 pm |
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Just sick.
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IntrepidIsMe
Pimp Handed
Joined: 14 Jun 2002
Posts: 13057
Location: New York
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| Thu Jan 27, 2005 1:23 pm |
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What a dumbass.
-------signature-------
"Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being."
-Wuthering Heights
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Oliver
Thought Maker
Joined: 28 Feb 2004
Posts: 6096
Location: Antwerp, Belgium
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| Thu Jan 27, 2005 1:51 pm |
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I just saw this on the news a few minutes ago. I heard the owner of the car got picked up and might be sentenced for murder.
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Leo Wyatt
Sweetest Angel
Joined: 25 Feb 2004
Posts: 19045
Location: Investigating A Crime Scene. What did Quark do this time?
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| Thu Jan 27, 2005 1:53 pm |
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Yeah, I agree he is a dumbass. He needs help,, mental help that is.
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