Fuckwit tries to commit suicide, chickens out, kills 11

[MKSheppard]

GLENDALE, Calif. — At least nine people were killed in a pre-rush hour, multi-train collision blamed on a vehicle parked on railroad tracks in a Los Angeles suburb. More than 100 people were taken to area hospitals, while 100 others were treated on the scene.

"At this time, we believe we have nine fatalities," Fire Chief William Battmare said. More than 100 people were transported to hospitals, he said.

"This is a complete outrage as far as transportation safety is concerned," Los Angeles sheriff Lee Baca said. "The people riding these trains deserve better," he said angrily, speculating the person who left the car on the tracks knew the trains were coming.

Officials said no one was found in the car, and they believed the driver was in custody. The National Transportation Safety Board (search) and the Glendale Police Department were investigating the deadly crash.

Shortly after 6 a.m., a southbound Metrolink commuter train hit the vehicle on the tracks, causing five to seven cars to derail and hit a northbound Metrolink train. An empty, idle Union Pacific train was also hit in the crash. A small fire erupted, and smoke could be seen wafting over the crash site.

Among the train passengers who died was a sheriff's deputy on his way into work from his home in Simi Valley, Baca said. Officials did not identify any of the dead passengers.

A Los Angeles Fire Department official said more than 200 people were injured, and that a search and rescue operation was still active. Officials said they would continue going through the train cars until they were certain all on board were out.

In a light rain, firefighters set up a command post in a nearby parking lot, where injured people could be seen lying on mats awaiting treatment.

There were 35 ambulances and 350 firefighters on the scene from Los Angeles, Pasadena and Ventura counties, sorting through the twisted wreckage and helping to treat passengers. A Hazmat team was also on the scene.

Dazed passengers, some limping, gathered at a triage center set up 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 passenger said he believed he heard the train colliding with something.

"I heard the train hit something and drag it across the tracks. All of the sudden the car stopped," he told KTTV. "Some people hit chairs, the seats in front of them — some people were really cut up."

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." He said she told him of hearing "sequential loud noises and then somebody pulled her out of the train while it was burning."

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.

Bromley said the track on which the crash happened is owned and operated by Metrolink.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[Darth Wong]

So who's the driver? Was his name something like "Akhmed Mohammed" or was it more like "Jim Powers"?

[wautd]

Still pretty vague to immediatly link it with terrorism

[Loner]

I'm more inclined to believe some drunk or a dumbass left it park on the track unintentionally.

[Coyote]

Why do people think there's a terror link? Deliberately parking a car on tracks could just be nasty people involved in jackassery-- vandalism on a large scale.

[MKSheppard]

So who's the driver? Was his name something like "Akhmed Mohammed" or was it more like "Jim Powers"?

Too damn early to tell, but if it was a drunk, the drunk would still be in
the car, smeared all over 100 feet of track.

[dr. what]

CNN and other news agencies are reporting that it looks like the vehicle was deliberately parked there. They're also reporting that they've talking to the driver.

CNN

[neoolong]

Didn't this just happen on 24?

[Stormbringer]

Why do people think there's a terror link? Deliberately parking a car on tracks could just be nasty people involved in jackassery-- vandalism on a large scale.

Possible, but it's also a relatively cheap and easy way to kill a lot of people. That's going to appeal to religious nut jobs with out a lot of means but a hell of a lot of motive. And lets be honest, if it is intentional the default assumption is going to be one of terrorism.

[jcow79]

CNN has announced that it is NOT a terrorist act but that they are treating it like a murder investigation. Something about the guy pushing his vehicle on the tracks and getting it stuck.

[Keevan_Colton]

Shep, why did you give it a bullshit title that has nothing to do with the content of the article?

[MKSheppard]

Shep, why did you give it a bullshit title that has nothing to do with the content of the article?

Because that's what my thoughts were when I saw it on the news right
before I posted it; "deliberately left on tracks", what the fuck does that
mean? You don't deliberately leave a car on tracks unless you want
to hurt a fuckload of people

[Darth Wong]

Shep, why did you give it a bullshit title that has nothing to do with the content of the article?

Because that's what my thoughts were when I saw it on the news right
before I posted it; "deliberately left on tracks", what the fuck does that
mean? You don't deliberately leave a car on tracks unless you want
to hurt a fuckload of people

That still doesn't necessarily mean it was terrorism as opposed to simple thrill-killer or serial-killer assholery.

[Coyote]

Considering the terrorist attacks in Spain before their pullout from Iraq, and the failed bomb found in Spain after their pullout, it is a reasonable-- if a bit knee-jerk-- assumption.

[Keevan_Colton]

Considering the terrorist attacks in Spain before their pullout from Iraq, and the failed bomb found in Spain after their pullout, it is a reasonable-- if a bit knee-jerk-- assumption.

After terrorist repeatedly using bombs against trains, a car on the tracks can be reasonably assumed to be terrorists?

Huh?

The word terror or terrorist came up NOWHERE in the article, it came straight from Sheps ass, so how about we get a less misleading title for this?

[Stormbringer]

Considering the terrorist attacks in Spain before their pullout from Iraq, and the failed bomb found in Spain after their pullout, it is a reasonable-- if a bit knee-jerk-- assumption.

After terrorist repeatedly using bombs against trains, a car on the tracks can be reasonably assumed to be terrorists?

Huh?

It derailed the trains didn't it? Terrorists have a working brain you know, it doesn't always have to be bombs. It turns out the assumption was wrong but it's not an unreasonable one to make.

[Darth Wong]

Considering the terrorist attacks in Spain before their pullout from Iraq, and the failed bomb found in Spain after their pullout, it is a reasonable-- if a bit knee-jerk-- assumption.

Because parked car = bomb?

Hey, if somebody blew up a trai in California, I'd be among the first to suspect terrorism. But leaving a car abandoned on a railroad track is not quite to that level, is it?

[Coyote]

Because if the car was parked there deliberately, as was mentioned, then it could be seen as an "attack" on trains, which was done successfully before.

As I mentioned, it was knee-jerk. But a person who sees an "attack on a train" will automatically remember "Spain". I was saying that I can understand the, ahem, train of thought but it was obviously a reflex movement to jump to a 'terrorist' motive.

[dr. what]

Driver tried to commit suicide but then changed his mind.

Yahoo

Asshole.........

[El Moose Monstero]

Colour me surprised, that was more or less the first thought I had on the matter. We had someone do the same thing on a level crossing fairly recently as well, but he didn't change his mind and killed 7 people. There were several far more plausible answers then terrorism, the most extreme of which could have been that it had been a stolen car that needed disposing of for some reason or another.

[Stormbringer]

Colour me surprised, that was more or less the first thought I had on the matter. We had someone do the same thing on a level crossing fairly recently as well, but he didn't change his mind and killed 7 people. There were several far more plausible answers then terrorism, the most extreme of which could have been that it had been a stolen car that needed disposing of for some reason or another.

My first thought was some moron that for some reason or other tried to beat the train. We've had a few people killed that way around here in recent years.

[neoolong]

Driver tried to commit suicide but then changed his mind.

Yahoo

Asshole.........

So instead of wanting to kill himself he decided to kill a bunch of other people. I suppose it would be ironic if he got the death penalty for it.

[Master of Ossus]

So instead of wanting to kill himself he decided to kill a bunch of other people. I suppose it would be ironic if he got the death penalty for it.

He won't. At most they'll give him nine counts of manslaughter, which cannot carry the death penalty.

What a fucker, though.

[Edi]

And a more effective way of committing suicide involving trains is just standing on the track, you just go splat, doesn't kill anyone else. Of course, it fucks up the train driver psychologically.

Goddamn asshole...

Edi

[Kamakazie Sith]

So instead of wanting to kill himself he decided to kill a bunch of other people. I suppose it would be ironic if he got the death penalty for it.

He won't. At most they'll give him nine counts of manslaughter, which cannot carry the death penalty.

What a fucker, though.

Police says a man will face a murder charge for each of the 10 people killed in a commuter train crash he allegedly caused during an apparent suicide attempt.

http://www.cnn.com/