Fuckwit tries to commit suicide, chickens out, kills 11

[Mange]

10 Dead, 200 Hurt As Calif. Train Hits SUV

1 hour, 27 minutes ago U.S. National - AP


By DAISY NGUYEN, Associated Press Writer

GLENDALE, Calif. - A commuter train smashed into an SUV left on the tracks by a suicidal man early Wednesday, sending the train careening off the rails 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.

No terrorist, but a crazy person trying to commit suicide by driving his fucking SUV on the rail. What an ass. He ran away and LEFT his car.

[Mange]

Sorry, forgot the link.

[Ghost Rider]

Since sources say not a terrorist attack and going possible is a bit of a leap. I will use what Shep proposed at the start of this thread.

Original: Possible terrorist-caused train derailment...

New: Fuckwit tries to commit suicide, chickens out, kills 9

[Bob the Gunslinger]

Wasn't there recently a family killed in NY linked to terrorists? A home-invasion quadruple murder was a big enough event for dozens of anti-islam protesters to believe it was terrorrism, and it looks like they might have been right.
Compared to that, 10 dead and 200 injured is a freakin' massacre. I can understand anyone who sees a massive body count and just assumes it's terrorrism these days. It's not too big a stretch to say that it's possible terrorrism.. I don't see where Shep was unreasonable. Maybe a bit anxious with the t-word, but pulling it completely out of his ass? No way.

[Beowulf]

Flaming split to here

[Broomstick]

I was pissed off and weirded out by this all day.

Weirded out because I've been riding commuter trains to work for over 20 years now and I have great empathy for folks riding to work suddenly finding themselves in Bad Situations.

I was also aboard an Amtrak about 15 years ago now that ran over a suicide on the tracks in Michigan. That wasn't pleasent either. I'll spare you the worst of the details and reduce the description to four words: "Extra Chunky Tomato Sauce". Alright, eight words: "Now With Bone Bits"

What a fucking obnoxious, ignorant, stupid, fart-brained chunk of extra-decayed intestinal pus this shithead is -- bad enough he wants to off himself, he's a goddamned loser who can't even do the job right. Stabs himself AND cuts his wrists? And this fucker is still alive? Meanwhile 10 dead and counting, and a couple hundred injured. I guess we should be happy he didn't intend to hurt anyone else, huh? Imagine the carnage if he had been trying hard - or maybe that was the problem. If he'd been trying to take others with him he probably would have fucked that up and no one would have gotten hurt. He's the sort of fuck-up that makes you think "rubber hoses" when you read/hear "police are interrogating the owner of the Jeep Cherokee" - and smile. What a loathesome piece of offal too low to be worth pissing on. Makes you fantacize about tying him to a railroad track with lengths of his own intestine.

This is turning into a really fucked up, sucky week. Is there an appropriate forum around here for venting? I have an itemized list for this week and it's only Wednesday. Assuming no more blizzards, back-aches, people dropping dead, co-worker meltdowns, idiots with PhD's, two-hour train delays, fist-fighting neighbors, or other happy horsehit happening to me I'd like to unload.

[Beowulf]

This is turning into a really fucked up, sucky week. Is there an appropriate forum around here for venting? I have an itemized list for this week and it's only Wednesday. Assuming no more blizzards, back-aches, people dropping dead, co-worker meltdowns, idiots with PhD's, two-hour train delays, fist-fighting neighbors, or other happy horsehit happening to me I'd like to unload.

Hall of Shame venting thread. I think it's up to 53 now...

[Mayabird]

This is turning into a really fucked up, sucky week. Is there an appropriate forum around here for venting? I have an itemized list for this week and it's only Wednesday. Assuming no more blizzards, back-aches, people dropping dead, co-worker meltdowns, idiots with PhD's, two-hour train delays, fist-fighting neighbors, or other happy horsehit happening to me I'd like to unload.

There's always a venting thread in the HoS. From how bad your week sounds, I don't know if it'll be enough.

On terrorist attacks: We get it. A terrorist with a small amount of imagination could screw a lot of people up in a bazillion very easy ways. Everything from the crop-duster scares to the laser pointers to this just shows that. We all have it figured out by now. And I like the new thread title better.

[Crayz9000]

Yeah, right in my backyard too. I've even ridden on that particular Metrolink line before.

The train must have struck passenger-car end first, since if the locomotive had hit the car (they use locomotives similar to freight engines, not like bullet trains) the car would be history. The passenger cars on the Blue Line are much lighter of course.

By the way, the Blue Line's average speed is about 80 MPH. We also had a similar crash (but accidental) a while ago in Burbank, just west of Glendale, along the same line. Guy in a Dodge Ram got confused by the screwed-up crossing guards and tried to outrun the train... you can guess what happened of course. It hit locomotive-first, so the train didn't derail.

Of course, thanks to gross mismanagement of the MTA here in LA, plus the general stupidity of the admistration of the City of Los Angeles itself, that whole line (along San Fernando Road) is horrible. See, there's two streets, one on either side of the tracks. That makes for a very complicated situation when it comes to crossing, and the MTA doesn't have a full set of crossing arms on most crossings.

[Sea Skimmer]

Yeah, right in my backyard too. I've even ridden on that particular Metrolink line before.

The train must have struck passenger-car end first, since if the locomotive had hit the car (they use locomotives similar to freight engines, not like bullet trains) the car would be history. The passenger cars on the Blue Line are much lighter of course.

Trains can derail from a car, though its not that common, even with a heavy freight locomotive pulling them. I don't know if that was the case though. The car in any case was history, given that the largest piece the media seems to be able to find and fill is the rear axle

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/us/0501/ ... e.5.ap.jpg

[Admiral Valdemar]

Reminds me of a similar incident not that long ago here where a guy committed suicide with his car on the track and killed a few on the express passing over that line. Fucker, certainly didn't go out with any friends to speak up for him.

[Rogue 9]

This is turning into a really fucked up, sucky week. Is there an appropriate forum around here for venting? I have an itemized list for this week and it's only Wednesday. Assuming no more blizzards, back-aches, people dropping dead, co-worker meltdowns, idiots with PhD's, two-hour train delays, fist-fighting neighbors, or other happy horsehit happening to me I'd like to unload.

Vent away.

[General Zod]

update: suspect to be charged with murder

[jcow79]

I wonder how they plan on prosecuting this guy for 1st degree murder? Seems like an uphill battle to me despite the carnage he caused.

[Darth Wong]

I wonder how they plan on prosecuting this guy for 1st degree murder? Seems like an uphill battle to me despite the carnage he caused.

If you put a bomb on those railroad tracks, a murder charge would be a foregone conclusion. How is this different?

[tharkûn]

If you put a bomb on those railroad tracks, a murder charge would be a foregone conclusion. How is this different?

Diminished capacity. Essentially the same crap that lets drunk drivers get off with 'vehicular manslaughter' because they weren't in their right frame of mind.

Murder in the 1st requires malice aforethought, and one could argue that he was too out of it to realize what he was doing was tantamount to placing a bomb on the tracks.

That of course ignores the obvious insanity plea coming and the host of other crap his defense can try to get him off.

[Joe]

I don't see how they can get the guy for murder, either. There appears to be no malicious intent on his part; he was out to off himself, not those other people. As much as I'd like to see the fucker suffer for his stupidity, the best it seems to me they can get will be manslaughter as for as criminal law goes. However, he's going to probably be spending the rest of his life in court once the families get around to filing their lawsuits, at least.

[jcow79]

I wonder how they plan on prosecuting this guy for 1st degree murder? Seems like an uphill battle to me despite the carnage he caused.

If you put a bomb on those railroad tracks, a murder charge would be a foregone conclusion. How is this different?

Yah, in Cali they really are going to have to prove intent. Unfortunatly we have a lot of people in this society who are educated by the movies. And the movies teach us that trains run right through vehicles. This guy is a fucking idiot and it's going to be very difficult to prove he knew the effects his vehicle would have. Perhaps if he had done some studying on the effects of prior wrecks similiar to this one they will have something to go on.

[Captain Cyran]

I wonder how they plan on prosecuting this guy for 1st degree murder? Seems like an uphill battle to me despite the carnage he caused.

If you put a bomb on those railroad tracks, a murder charge would be a foregone conclusion. How is this different?

Because this is the U.S. and his lawyer is going to get him off on an insanity plea.

Or maybe I'm just being overly pesimistic.

[jcow79]

I wonder how they plan on prosecuting this guy for 1st degree murder? Seems like an uphill battle to me despite the carnage he caused.

If you put a bomb on those railroad tracks, a murder charge would be a foregone conclusion. How is this different?

Because this is the U.S. and his lawyer is going to get him off on an insanity plea.

Or maybe I'm just being overly pesimistic.

I wouldn't say it's a matter of pessimism or optimism. It's just the way the law works. I doubt he'll get off either way. Whether he ends up in a mental institute or a prison, he'll be away from society.

[Mr Bean]

Title thread death count updated, OAN the suspect has attempted sucided an additonal three times since arrested, and they forgot to put him on a sucided watch

[jcow79]

Title thread death count updated, OAN the suspect has attempted sucided an additonal three times since arrested, and they forgot to put him on a sucided watch

Perhaps they could just save everyone a lot of money and time by giving him some really sturdy shoe strings?

[Darth Wong]

Title thread death count updated, OAN the suspect has attempted sucided an additonal three times since arrested, and they forgot to put him on a sucided watch

He's tried and failed to commit suicide FOUR times in total now? Can't we just execute him for incompetence?

[dr. what]

He's tried and failed to commit suicide FOUR times in total now? Can't we just execute him for incompetence?

Ask and ye shall receive, Mike

Train crash man faces death charge

[General Zod]

Title thread death count updated, OAN the suspect has attempted sucided an additonal three times since arrested, and they forgot to put him on a sucided watch

He's tried and failed to commit suicide FOUR times in total now? Can't we just execute him for incompetence?

you could if this were victorian england.