Suicide Attempt Leads To 10 Dead As Commuter Trains Derail Near Los Angeles

[dmp]

GLENDALE, CALIF. - A commuter train smashed into an SUV left on a crossing by a suicidal man early Wednesday, sending the train careening off the tracks in a wreck that killed 10 people and injured about 200, authorities said. Dozens of the injured were in critical condition.

After the Metrolink train hit the SUV, it derailed and crashed with another train going in the opposite direction. Both trains landed on their sides, sending passengers tumbling down the aisles, authorities said.

The SUV driver changed his mind about suicide and left the vehicle before it was hit, Police Chief Randy Adams said. The man will be charged with homicide, he said.

"This whole incident was started by a deranged individual that was suicidal," Adams told a news conference at the scene of mangled railcars in the suburb north of downtown Los Angeles. "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."

The man, identified as Juan Manuel Alvarez, 26, of Compton, stood by as the train hit the SUV, Adams said. Alvarez had also tried to slash his wrists and stabbed himself, authorities said.

"There is no terrorism or terrorist act involved," Adams said.

It was the worst rail accident in the United States since March 15, 1999, when an Amtrak train hit a truck and derailed near Bourbonnais, Ill., killing 11 people and injuring more than 100.

Firefighters picked through twisted wreckage and carried injured passengers from the trains to a triage center set up in a nearby parking lot.

One commuter train was headed from Los Angeles' Union Station to downtown Burbank, and the other was bound to Union Station from Moorpark, Metrolink officials said. The accident happened a little after 6 a.m.

"I heard a noise. It got louder and louder," said passenger Diane Brady, 56, of Simi Valley. "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."

In a light rain, firefighters climbed ladders into windows of a battered train tipped onto its side.

Nearly 300 firefighters were at the scene and 35 ambulances were taking injured passengers to hospitals, officials said.

Dazed passengers, some limping, gathered at tables in a nearby store, while the injured sprawled on color-coded mats in the parking lot: red for those with severe injuries, green for those less seriously harmed.

One of the dead passengers was identified as Deputy James Tutino, a 23-year veteran of the Los Angeles County sheriff's department.

As the cars tumbled off the tracks, one of the Metrolink trains struck a parked Union Pacific locomotive, tipping it onto its side, said Kathryn Blackwell, a railroad spokeswoman in Omaha, Neb.

George Touma, 19, of Burbank, said he was called by his mother, who was on one of the Metrolink trains.

"She told me she was bleeding in the head and her arm was really hurting," said Touma, who was searching for her. "I'm really worried because she has vertigo and when I tried to call back she wouldn't answer."

Metrolink began service in 1992 and operates seven lines, part of a multibillion-dollar transportation network aimed at reducing pollution and congestion in Southern California.

On Jan. 6, a freight train derailed at Graniteville, S.C., sending up a toxic cloud of chlorine gas from a damaged tank car. Nine people were killed, 250 were injured and thousands were forced to evacuate their homes.

 

[no1tovote4]

He got out of the vehicle then WATCHED IT HIT THE SUV!

 

[dilloduck]

Mental illness is a killer !

 

[no1tovote4]

[sarcasm]
SUVs should be regulated by the Federal Government as a dangerous weapon!
[/sarcasm]

 

[Eightball]

Now he's really got a reason to commit suicide!

 

[Merlin1047]

Now he's really got a reason to commit suicide!

Now he has a reason to hide from irate passengers who may want to help him with that.

 

[dilloduck]

I'm afraid that now he will get the help he has needed for so long---just too late to help anyone but him.

 

[no1tovote4]

I'm surprised the Headline wasn't SUV KILLS 10!

 

[no1tovote4]

I'm afraid that now he will get the help he has needed for so long---just too late to help anyone but him.

Oh, I am sure somebody in Prison will help him find the soap!

 

[dilloduck]

Oh, I am sure somebody in Prison will help him find the soap!

perhaps thats what he wanted all along ???

 

[Eightball]

I'm surprised the Headline wasn't SUV KILLS 10!

Correct liberal/environmental wacko media spin......would be just that. Another Serial Killer SUV Takes out Two Trains!

 

[Merlin1047]

Correct liberal/environmental wacko media spin......would be just that. Another Serial Killer SUV Takes out Two Trains!

Well, you do have to consider the fact that this thing DID run a train off the track. That's not an easy thing to do.

Trade in your gas-guzzling, air-polluting, greenhouse gas belching, train-derailing monster on a nice little hybrid. I bet one of those little critters wouldn't knock a train off the rails!

 

[no1tovote4]

Well, you do have to consider the fact that this thing DID run a train off the track. That's not an easy thing to do.

Trade in your gas-guzzling, air-polluting, greenhouse gas belching, train-derailing monster on a nice little hybrid. I bet one of those little critters wouldn't knock a train off the rails!

No but the Heavy Medals in the batteries would have exploded killing hundreds! Spilling onto the ground several acres would have been devoid of life for years!

 

[freeandfun1]

Well, you do have to consider the fact that this thing DID run a train off the track. That's not an easy thing to do.

Trade in your gas-guzzling, air-polluting, greenhouse gas belching, train-derailing monster on a nice little hybrid. I bet one of those little critters wouldn't knock a train off the rails!

A couple of years ago, a freight-train derailed in the Mojave desert just from a piece of metal on the tracks.