Guy tries to kill himself, but decides to live...

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

and ends up killing 10 others...

 

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - At least 10 people were killed and nearly 200 injured on Wednesday when two Los Angeles commuter trains collided after one struck an automobile left on the tracks in what authorities called an aborted suicide attempt by a "deranged" man.

 

Police and fire officials said the man slashed his wrists and stabbed himself in the chest shortly before parking his Jeep Cherokee on the tracks. But he jumped clear at the last moment and watched as the two high-speed trains smashed together and derailed in a fiery wreck.

 

The man was identified by police as Juan Manuel Alvarez, 25. He was found wandering the scene after the predawn accident, muttering: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," according to a local television report. Police said the man, who was uninjured in the crash, was arrested and would be charged with at least 10 counts of murder.

 

Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley said decisions about charging the suspect would be made by Friday.

[The Dames 0]

That's just what Los Angeles CTU is feeding to the media. Jack's already been working on this story since 7am.

 

Dames

[SinToxic 0]

What a way to not die. Clearly if he survived self stabbing in the chest that alone should have made him see the guiding light.

[Guest Smues]

That's just fucked up. I'd heard about the train wreck, but didn't know it was caused by an aborted suicide. Well he chose life over death, and my guess is that's what he'll get in court, life.

[Highland 0]

Irony would be him getting the death penalty. Can he get it in a case like this? He did kill 10 people after all.

[Jingus 0]

Nah, worst he could get is a life sentence for manslaughter, they can't prove he actively intended to kill anyone.

[Guest Smues]

He'll probably sue the train company for millions because they damaged his SUV.

[Swift Terror 0]

I heard a co-worker of his (or it may have been just a friend) interviewed on the radio. This dumbass said that he knew about Alvarez's plans to park his car on the train tracks. He said "I thought he was going to kill himself, not all those people".

Brilliant, you jackball. He should join Alvarez in prison for not reporting the info he had.

[2GOLD 0]

That is almost the equal of, "I knew he was going to blow himself up in a crowded mall but I didn't think he was going to hurt anyone doing it."

 

Train hits SUV. Train skips track. People DIE!

 

You'd have to have no IQ whatsoever to be unable to figure that out.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Irony would be him getting the death penalty. Can he get it in a case like this? He did kill 10 people after all.

He'll die of old age before getting the needle in CA...

[2GOLD 0]

Irony would be him getting the death penalty. Can he get it in a case like this? He did kill 10 people after all.

He'll die of old age before getting the needle in CA...

 

Hello?

California?

 

He'll be out tomorrow having a sundae before he goes to prison in that state.

[Open the Muggy Gate 0]

I didn't think that guy failing to kill himself with a chainsaw would be topped. I guess it has... that's a pretty sad story.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

In the co-worker's defense, many of the times that things like this happen, the criminals say tons of stuff beforehand and you never really take it seriously. How many times have you heard someone say "I'm gonna kill that guy" and they've actually done it?

 

This guy didn't intend to kill anyone it's just a case of him being a moron who really didn't think he'd kill anyone. Put him in jail, but not for life, he doesn't deserve death either.

[Dr. Tom 0]

The only reason I wouldn't give him the death penalty is because he wanted to die. His absolutely stupid and careless actions, however, led to multiple deaths and injuries. He should absolutely go to jail for life, and have to do the most backbreaking manner of labor possible. Which, in CA, is probably rubbing suntan lotion on the guards' backs...

[Open the Muggy Gate 0]

The only reason I wouldn't give him the death penalty is because he wanted to die. His absolutely stupid and careless actions, however, led to multiple deaths and injuries. He should absolutely go to jail for life, and have to do the most backbreaking manner of labor possible. Which, in CA, is probably rubbing suntan lotion on the guards' backs...

I couldn't have said it better. They'll have to keep an eye on him too so he won't kill himself in jail probably.

[Guest Smues]

He doesn't even deserve life? His actions directly killed 10 people. This wasn't an accident, he left his vehicle on the tracks, it wasn't like he slid onto the tracks in terrible weather or something somewhat out of his control. Not that I expect him to get anything worse then 3 months in a mental ward and Clippers season tickets since it's California, but at a minimum he deserves life.

[2GOLD 0]

He needs 15 ccs of LOVE injected into his arm and a cell full of hugs.

[Guest Smues]

Charged with 11 counts of murder, could get death penalty

 

I'm surprised and impressed he is actually being charged with murder, and apparently the death penalty is actually a possibility, but I still don't see that happening. I'm still waiting to hear someone say, "Why are they pressing charges, he said he was sorry!"

[Swift Terror 0]

The one detail I would like to know is this: did he attempt to drive his vehicle off of the tracks and could not because it was stuck.... or did he jump out of it without attempting to move it. If it is the latter, screw him. If it was the former, well, I'll cut him a tiny bit of slack, but he still needs to go away for many decades.

[Guest Vitamin X]

I have a friend that was in juvi but was manic depressive and actively suicidal. He said it was the best thing there was since he was put into isolation and under guard watch 24/7. I like how California helps out people with mental illnesses, but I don't think this guy will get off that easy. I know you guys are joking and all, but just because it isn't Texas, doesn't mean he won't get the same level of justice leveled on him for accidentally killing 10 people.

[Spicy McHaggis 0]

Swift Terror, the guy wasn't just at a crossing...he basically drove to a part of the tracks where cars don't normally cross, [speculation] probably to get his jeep stuck on purpose [/speculation].

 

VX, this wasn't an accidental killing...his objective wasn't to kill, but his actions were intentional. He knew the train would derail.

[Swift Terror 0]

this wasn't an accidental killing...his objective wasn't to kill, but his actions were intentional. He knew the train would derail.

 

 

I know where you're coming from and I thought this at first as well. I thought, this guy must have known the train would derail.

 

But now I do not think he knew the train would derail. In fact, most trains do not derail when striking a vehicle, even trucks, when the locomotive, non-passenger section is in front. I heard this from an engineer who workered in LA being interviewed. I'm not saying this in order to be sympathetic with this a-hole.

 

As the article below reads, with this particular train the locomotive was pushing the lighter, more vulnerable passenger cars. The locomotive was in back, not in front. It was these passenger cars that struck the guy's truck. Apparently LA has done the locomotive-from-behind approach for several years now. This guy probably was not aware of this--how many of you in LA knew this, probably not many.

 

I don't think he went into this thinking that many people would be hurt or killed by his actions. I think he still deserves many decades in a small room, but certainly not execution.

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/27/national...ed=3&oref=login

 

(This web page requires a free sign-up to NY Times site.)

 

"This is a complete outrage as far as traffic safety is concerned," Sheriff Lee Baca of Los Angeles County said. "When some individual parks his vehicle on the tracks, that is cause for serious, serious alarm."

 

The mayor of Glendale, Bob Yousefian, called on federal transportation authorities to eliminate all grade crossings, which account for scores of accidents and suicides each year around the country.

 

Federal investigators said they did not know the exact number of drivers who had committed suicides at rail crossings. Suicides more commonly involve pedestrians who walk in front of trains than those who park cars on the tracks, investigators say.

 

The crash on Wednesday was the third fatal accident involving Metrolink in the last three years. In January 2003, a Metrolink train smashed into a truck and derailed, killing the truck driver and injuring 32 train passengers. In April 2002, a freight train plowed into a stopped Metrolink train, leaving three passengers dead and 162 injured.

 

David Solow, the chief executive of Metrolink, described how the disaster unfolded. Metrolink Train 100, which had four cars and was being pushed by a locomotive, was traveling southbound from Moorpark to Los Angeles and approaching the Glendale station at 6:02 a.m. when its front car hit Mr. Alvarez's Jeep.

 

The front car, or cab, has a compartment in the front for the engineer when the locomotive is in the back. The rest of the two-story car carries passengers.

 

Because Mr. Alvarez's truck was wedged between the rails and not sitting at a grade crossing, it became an "immovable object," Mr. Solow said, vaulting the front car of the train into the air and causing the cars behind it to twist on their couplings and fold in on one another like an accordion.

 

The out-of-control train struck the work train on a track just west of the Metrolink rails, knocking the locomotive on its side. The train had cars full of gravel and was preparing to go to Santa Barbara to repair tracks damaged in the recent rainstorms.

 

After striking the Union Pacific train, the southbound train slammed into an oncoming Metrolink train, No. 901, northbound from Los Angeles to the San Fernando Valley.

 

Trains on the line can travel as fast as 79 miles per hour, but the two trains involved in the crash were probably going slower because the southbound train was approaching the Glendale station and the northbound train had just left it, Mr. Solow said. He said that the exact speeds, the various points of impact and the overall force of the collision would be determined by National Transportation Safety Board investigators.

 

Mr. Solow said that Metrolink and most other passenger trains are designed to withstand a collision with a light vehicle stopped at a grade crossing. The cab car in the front of the southbound train had a reinforced frame designed to deflect or destroy vehicles parked at level grade crossings.

 

"Normally at a grade crossing the car is smashed to smithereens and the train stays on the track," Mr. Solow said. "But this car was wedged between the tracks, and the only way for the cab car to go was up."

[Spicy McHaggis 0]

Because Mr. Alvarez's truck was wedged between the rails and not sitting at a grade crossing, it became an "immovable object," Mr. Solow said, vaulting the front car of the train into the air and causing the cars behind it to twist on their couplings and fold in on one another like an accordion.

 

...

 

Mr. Solow said that Metrolink and most other passenger trains are designed to withstand a collision with a light vehicle stopped at a grade crossing. The cab car in the front of the southbound train had a reinforced frame designed to deflect or destroy vehicles parked at level grade crossings.

 

"Normally at a grade crossing the car is smashed to smithereens and the train stays on the track," Mr. Solow said. "But this car was wedged between the tracks, and the only way for the cab car to go was up."

These are the parts that trouble me. I would almost be more understanding if it was at a grade crossing. But this guy intended to wedge in his car, probably to make sure he would die.

 

The lesson is if you're going to take the cowardly, selfish way out while endangering other people, at least succeed in offing yourself.

[Sideburnious 0]

Yeah I think the chainsaw story has been topped.

 

You'd think he'd just drive himself to a hospital when he decided he wanted to live instead of jumping out of the car though.

[iggymcfly 0]

I just don't get the point of using the car. Wouldn't it have been a lot easier to just lay down in the tracks when the train came? When you're too lazy to get out of the car wen you're ENDING YOUR LIFE, that's pretty fucking sad.