(The Associated Press circulated the following story on January 26. Tim Smith is Chairman of the BLET’s California State Legislative Board.)
GLENDALE, Calif. — A man intent on committing suicide left his car on a railroad track in Glendale near downtown Los Angeles yesterday, where it set off a collision that derailed two commuter trains, killing at least 11 people and at least 180, authorities said.
The SUV driver got out at the last moment and survived.
Police identified the man who left his car on the tracks as Juan Manuel Alvarez, 25, of Compton. They said he appeared to have been trying to commit suicide and had already cut his wrists and stabbed himself, but then apparently changed his mind and got out of the Jeep Cherokee.
“He stood by and watched,” said Glendale Fire Chief Randy Adams, who said police would charge him with homicide.
The SUV was hit shortly after 6 a.m. Pacific time by a southbound Metrolink train, which then went off the rails and started a deadly chain reaction, authorities said.
After derailing, the commuter train, which was being pushed by its engine, struck a Union Pacific locomotive parked on a side track, knocking it onto its side, fire department officials said. The commuter train, en route to Union Station in Los Angeles from the western suburb of Moorpark, then buckled, sideswiping a passing northbound train that was headed toward Burbank.
Diesel fuel in the locomotive caught fire as a result of the crash, and flames spread to parts of the wreckage before firefighters extinguished them.
Dazed passengers staggered
from the wreckage, some limping. One elderly man on the train was covered in blood and soot, his legs and arms apparently broken.
“I heard a noise. It got louder and louder,” said passenger Diane Brady, 56. “And next thing I knew the train tilted, everyone was screaming, and I held onto a pole for dear life. I held on for what seemed like a week and a half it seemed. It was a complete nightmare.”
Dozens of the injured were in critical condition, and more than 120 people were sent to hospitals in the nation’s deadliest train accident in nearly six years.
Killed were one woman and nine men, including sheriff’s Deputy James Tutino, 47, whose flag-draped body was saluted by law officers and firefighters as it was carried from the wreckage.
An 11th body was discovered in the wreckage after nightfall. Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Jim Wells said he did not know whether the body was that of a man or woman.
Before his rescue, one trapped man apparently used his own blood to write a note on a seat bottom. Using the heart symbol, he wrote “I love my kids” and “I love Leslie.” The man’s identity was not known, but Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Rex Vilaubi said the man was alive when he was removed.
The wreck set in motion a huge rescue operation involving more than 300 firefighters, some of whom climbed ladders to reach the windows of the battered train cars. A triage center was set up in a parking lot, where the injured lay sprawled on color-colded mats – red for those with severe injuries, green for those less seriously hurt.
Alvarez was arrested and expected to be booked for investigation of a “homicide-related offense,” police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said. Alvarez slashed his wrists and stabbed himself, but the injuries were not life-threatening. Authorities said Alvarez had a criminal record that involved drugs. District Attorney Steve Cooley said no decision had been made on charges. “This whole incident was started by a deranged individual that was suicidal,” Mr. Adams said. “I think his intent at that time was to take his own life but changed his mind prior to the train actually striking this vehicle.”
Alvarez’s sister-in-law, Maricela Amaya, told Telemundo TV that he had separated from his wife, Carmelita, three months ago. She said the wife got a court order to keep him away, but he had tried to see his wife and son.
“He was having problems with drugs and all that and was violent and because of that he separated from her,” Ms. Amaya said in Spanish. “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. Don’t come by here telling that to my sister.”
She said he had also threatened suicide in front of his son.
According to the request for a temporary restraining order, which was granted Dec. 14, Ms. Alvarez said her husband “threatened to take our kid away and to hurt my family members.
“He is planning on selling his vehicle to buy and gun and threatened to use it,” she said in the court documents. “He is using drugs and has been in and out of rehab twice.”
It was the worst U.S. rail tragedy since 1999, when an Amtrak train hit a truck and derailed in Illinois, killing 11 people and injuring more than 100.
Investigators from the FBI, National Transportation Safety Board, and Federal Railroad Administration were sent.
Yesterday’s tragedy also drew criticism over the configuration of the train that struck the SUV.
Timothy Smith, state legislative chairman for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, faulted the rail line for using a “cab-car” to lead the train, with the locomotive pushing from the rear. Unlike a locomotive, a cab car has a small control booth for the engineer, along with passenger seating.
If the heavier locomotive was at the front of the train, he said, it would have probably pushed the vehicle off the tracks and avoided a derailment.