Attempted Suicide Kills at least 10 People

GLENDALE, California (CNN) -- A suicidal man will face murder charges after parking his vehicle on tracks Wednesday, causing a commuter train collision that killed at least 10 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 Juan Manuel Alvarez, 25, got out of the Jeep Cherokee before impact and watched the collision, Adams said.

The Compton, California, resident is in custody and will be charged with one count of homicide for each death resulting from the incident, Adams said.

Before being taken into custody, the suspect was treated for superficial wounds 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.

Adams said Alvarez has an arrest record for unspecified drug violations and described the suspect as "distraught and remorseful, but cooperative."

Adams said more than 100 people were injured in the crash, which occurred shortly after 6 a.m.

"I heard a noise. It got louder and louder," passenger Diane Brady, 56, of Simi Valley, told The Associated Press. "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 was a complete nightmare," she said.

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.

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.

Chris Gray, chief of the Glendale Fire Department, said more than 75 agencies are involved in the rescue and recovery, including some from Pasadena and Burbank.

Videotape shows Metrolink passenger train cars on their sides with shattered windows and the metal sheeting peeled backward and crushed inward.

The footage also shows several overturned orange Union Pacific rail cars.

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 will take over the investigation. Relatives can call (818) 548-6464 for additional information.

Worst in almost six years
Wednesday's crash is the worst rail accident in the United States since March 1999, when an Amtrak train hit a truck and derailed near Bourbonnais, Illinois, killing 11 people and injuring more than 100, according to AP. (Full story)

Edit:

Man accused in train crash faces murder charges
Prosecutor: No decision yet on whether to pursue death penalty
Thursday, January 27, 2005 Posted: 12:17 PM EST (1717 GMT)

Rescuers spent hours pulling the dead and injured from the twisted wreckage of the trains. At least 11 people died.

GLENDALE, California (CNN) -- A man accused of causing a deadly Southern California train crash has been charged with 11 counts of murder, Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley said.

The charges against Juan Manuel Alvarez, 25, include a special circumstance that would make him eligible for the death penalty, but Cooley said a decision hasn't been made on whether to pursue capital punishment.

Alvarez is scheduled to appear Thursday afternoon in a Los Angeles court.

In addition to the 11 dead, nearly 200 people in the crash were hospitalized, Glendale Fire Department Chief Christopher Gray said.

Rescue officials continued to search Thursday through the wreckage for a missing passenger.

FBI and National Transportation Safety Board investigators were dispatched to the site.

On Wednesday, Alvarez parked his Jeep Cherokee on railroad tracks in Glendale as a commuter train approached shortly after 6 a.m., police said.

Initially, Alvarez intended to commit suicide, police said, but he changed his mind. He exited his sport utility vehicle and watched as the Metrolink train hit it, derailed, ran into a northbound Metrolink commuter train and crashed into a parked Union Pacific train, police said.

Alvarez, whose last known address was in Compton, was taken into custody near the scene, Glendale Police Chief Randy Adams said Wednesday.

Before his arrested and placed on suicide watch, Alvarez 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, the AP reported.

"He was having problems with drugs and all that and was violent," Amaya told the AP. "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."

Los Angeles Mayor Jim Hahn said the tragedy could have been worse.

"We are in mourning today," Hahn said Wednesday. "When you saw the wreckage inside those cars, it's a miracle there weren't more people lost."

A passenger said the impact "sounded like the train was dragging something across the tracks in front of it."

"All of a sudden, the lights went out. The train jerked to a stop."

Another passenger said, "It was terrible. 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."

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," Yousefian said.

A massive rescue operation ensued. Gray, the Glendale Fire Department chief, said more than 75 agencies were involved in the rescue and recovery, including some from Pasadena and Burbank.

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.

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 Simi Valley resident is survived by his wife and four adult children, a spokesman said.

Adams said another victim was believed to be a Metrolink employee.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/01/27/tra...ent/index.html

[ January 27, 2005, 01:47 PM: Message edited by: DJ FC ]

[Danhalen]

i bet that fuck really wants to die now. his punishment should be to watch video played on a loop of all the families he's ruined while serving a life sentence.

[Cocktooth]

fuck that....tie him up to a railroad track and let a train run his ass over....it should be eye for an eye....that the way i would be if i was a judge...by the way...if i run for judge..probably shouldnt vote for me..hah

[Niger Angelus]

Originally posted by Danhalen:
i bet that fuck really wants to die now. his punishment should be to watch video played on a loop of all the families he's ruined while serving a life sentence.

Something like that happened to a man from Ft. Wayne I believe who was convicted of Vehicular Manslaughter. He was driving drunk with his children and got in an accident and his daughter was killed. As part of his sentence the judge ordered that pictures of her be placed in his cell.

Originally posted by Niger Angelus:
As part of his sentence the judge ordered that pictures of her be placed in his cell.

CJ Majors - Wouldn't that fall under "cruel and unusual?"

[Mr. Blonde]

I don't think so...granted, there are limits...but the judge holds a lot of discretionary power in his sentencing. Plus, who is really gonna disagree with something like that, besides the guy who did it? I don't see it violating any constitutional right.

Well I would disagree with it because it seems pretty cruel.

Downright evil and twisted actually.

Send him to jail, let the system work with him, don't impose extraordinary mental 'sentencing'

[Schroeder]

Originally posted by Shaw:
it should be eye for an eye

It's going to be hard to kill him 11 times, J Shaw.

[Niger Angelus]

Originally posted by DJ FC:
Well I would disagree with it because it seems pretty cruel.

Downright evil and twisted actually.

Send him to jail, let the system work with him, don't impose extraordinary mental 'sentencing'

I think he deserved it, especially being a repeat offender.

[Mr. Blonde]

Originally posted by DJ FC:
Well I would disagree with it because it seems pretty cruel.

Downright evil and twisted actually.

Send him to jail, let the system work with him, don't impose extraordinary mental 'sentencing'

That's the thing about corrections. The system doesn't "work with you". One of the main aspects of our corrections system is supposed to be rehabilitation, but we rarely attempt/accomplish that. However, I'd like to think that having the pictures in there might help him realize his wrongs so he can rehabilitate himself (because he pretty much has to). Either that or kill himself.

I fail to see any reasonable rehabilitation in this action, rather its a judge getting his jollies off with his power to do so. I bet he felt real good after that one.

[Mr. Blonde]

Thats what i'm saying dude, they've lately been slowly working to alternative sentencing other than prison time, becuase they are finally realizing that sending a guy to prison is pretty much going to accomplish jack shit. When you said "let the system work with him", i assumed you meant let the system normally rehabilitate him, just like all the other prisoners that are rehabilitated after a few years and let back out.....oh...wait...recidivism what? Hardly anybody truly get's rehabilitated, rather thrown in a cell and left there until they serve their sentence. Yeah, the picture thing might be a little harsh, but it might have more of an effect than if you just threw him in prison.

[Niger Angelus]

It just like a long sucky vacation. They can choose to get something out of it or not, but nothing is really imposed on them whatsoever.

[tonguegina]

Just to let people know, they did decide to push for the death sentence for this guy. It doesn't make very much sense to me. Didn't this guy want to die in the first place? It seems to me life in prison would be better.

[Niger Angelus]

Yeah, make him live with what he did. Let that eat at him for awhile. But yet, it does take forever to actually execute someone.

[underwater]

Let me butt in here with a little bit of a different outlook.....

I think the death penalty for this guy would be a big mistake.

First of all, the guy probably wasn't thinking about the train full of people that was going to hit him. He just wanted to die. The thought of them probably never even crossed his mind... I know you might think, "Well, how the hell could he not think of that?!" But I could also say, "How the hell could he WANT to take his own life?" Also, I know that, before hearing about this, I wouldn't have thought that a Jeep could de-rail a train. I've never really thought about it before, and he may not have either... That is, if he was thinking at all.

Second of all, he was one fucked up guy.. Drug use, shitloads of depression... The man has problems. I think it's bad enough for him that he has to live with his stupidity and its horrible consequences. I might be showing a bit of a soft spot in saying this, but for god's sake... the death penalty? That is way too harsh. In my opinion, this guy needs more help than punishment. As far as negative consequences, he's created his own.

He should be sentenced to jail time. I can't really say for how long; it would take me a good amount of time to really decide how I feel about life in prison for him. But you have to think about how messed up this guy was. His intention was to kill HIMSELF, not the eleven or so people that ended up dying. It wasn't "murder with intention" or whatever the technical term is for it. To me, it was attempted suicide. That is all you can really say....

[Mr. Blonde]

Originally posted by tonguegina:
Just to let people know, they did decide to push for the death sentence for this guy. It doesn't make very much sense to me. Didn't this guy want to die in the first place? It seems to me life in prison would be better.

Originally posted by Niger Angelus:
Yeah, make him live with what he did. Let that eat at him for awhile.

Originally posted by underwater:
Let me butt in here with a little bit of a different outlook.....

I think the death penalty for this guy would be a big mistake.

Way to take that different outlook, underwater.

Her different look was that of severity, Mr. Blonde, did you even read her post?

Everyone else is out to get this guy, she is saying how he actually deserves compassion, it's only a coincidence that the solution to both problems is some form of jail time.

[tonguegina]

That's exactly what I was thinking. Thanks Blonde.

DJ, I read it, and her points absolutely sucked. Her first point can be argued by saying that she thinks that a guy who falls asleep at the wheel, crosses into oncoming traffic, and hits a bus full of school children that rolls into a ditch and kills a bunch of students doesn't deserve the death penalty. The guy probably wasn't thinking about the bus load of children that was going to hit him, so he should probably just have a few days in prison at most.

Then the other one...yeah...no one on death row has ever been on drugs or depressed...

My point is that she came in here all high and mighty, "I'll make this great post to argue with them," and not only was it not arguing what we said, it gave bad points. Bad post, underwater. Bad post.

[ January 30, 2005, 09:48 PM: Message edited by: tonguegina ]

[Orgazmo]

DJ, I read it, and her points absolutely sucked. Her first point can be argued by saying that she thinks that a guy who falls asleep at the wheel, crosses into oncoming traffic, and hits a bus full of school children that rolls into a ditch and kills a bunch of students doesn't deserve the death penalty. The guy probably wasn't thinking about the bus load of children that was going to hit him, so he should probably just have a few days in prison at most.

I don't think said guy deserves the dp at all...nor do I think the situations are comparable. Whereas falling asleep at the wheel is out of his control (he's not going to intentionally do it), parking your SUV on train tracks is a horse of a different color.

Well I could be reading her a bit too deeply (forgive me if this is the case), but examining a situation from a different "outlook" (point of view is probobly what she intended) does not in any means serve as a precurser for an argument.

Indeed, she never states she will be arguing, and I got the impression the whole time that she would be simply talking about her and the passage, completely ignoring all other commentary.

And at this, she was quite successful. Her addition to the conversation adds the possibility that the harshest punishment may not be the end all solution for this problem, and this is the point at which her train of thought seriously deviates from anyone before her.

Her jailtime encourages rehabilitation, not punishment, which thus far has been the emphasis. The switch of philosophies (punishment to rehabilitation) creates a vastly different point of view on this situation, and for this I find her entire post worthy of "posthood."

Now she could have more clearly stated her intention to use this distinction as the basis for her "different point of view" claim, but I feel this is not needed.

On the whole I thought this was an excellent post in terms of Underwater's normal post quality.

[Mr. Blonde]

Originally posted by DJ FC:
Indeed, she never states she will be arguing, and I got the impression the whole time that she would be simply talking about her and the passage, completely ignoring all other commentary.

Since when was it ok to go ahead and post whatever the fuck you want without reading if other people have already said it?

Never. I think she did actually read the other's.

The only difference is that her arguments weren't based on the other arguments.

They were completely independant, thus providing a unique point of view.