Man Killed by Train Is Believed a Vagrant

Officials said Monday they believe that a man killed by an Amtrak train Saturday in San Juan Capistrano was a transient who was stopped for loitering a week ago. Authorities are awaiting fingerprints from the FBI to positively identify him.

The 31-year-old man was questioned by sheriff’s deputies April 8 after he was stopped near San Juan Creek and Valle roads, about 1 1/2 miles south of the train accident, said Lt. George Johnson of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

“There was no ID on the deceased. However, deputies think he was the same person they had talked to about a week earlier. They had seen a transient-type . . . and stopped him to find out who he was and why he was in the area. It was not the result of any criminal activity,” Johnson said.

The man was struck by the southbound passenger train about 8:03 p.m. as he walked on the Santa Fe track about a mile north of the station. Sheriff’s officials said the train was moving slowly because it was about to make a scheduled stop at the station. Authorities said the engineer was not believed to have been at fault, and no charges were pending.

“The engineer made a statement that he couldn’t stop the train in time, and the victim either could not or did not get off the track in time,” said Lt. Richard J. Olson, a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Department.

Officials said they also were awaiting results of tests to determine whether the victim was intoxicated. Amtrak officials said the investigation would be left to the Sheriff’s Department.

Ben Michalec, who lives on Oso Road just southwest of where the accident occurred, said two train conductors came to his door Saturday night asking to use the phone to call authorities because they thought they had hit an animal or a person.

He said about eight sheriff’s deputies responded and blocked off traffic on Camino Capistrano and Oso Road. The area where the train struck the man is not well lit. There are orange groves on the west of the tracks and Camino Capistrano to the east of the tracks, he said.

Michalec said he thinks he saw the victim in the past few weeks walking near the tracks. “I had seen him, at the most, on three occasions. . . . He had shaggy hair. He was not under the influence of drugs or intoxicated or anything. He was just a regular hobo,” said Michalec, 59, a farm and land broker who owns property near the tracks.