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)
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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 ]