Local News in Brief : Capistrano Beach : Train Hits Transient Who Was on the Tracks

A 50-year-old man who was lying on railroad tracks in Capistrano Beach was struck by a Santa Fe Railway train early Monday morning, officials said.

An autopsy performed Monday showed that the man, identified by police as a transient, died from trauma to the head, but further testing was being conducted to determine if he was dead before the train struck him, according to Lt. Richard J. Olson of the Sheriff’s Department.

“It’s a questionable death in view of the fact there is no obvious evidence, such as a suicide note. . . . He had not been shot, there were no bullet holes,” Olson said.

The accident occurred at about 3:10 a.m., when four locomotives and a caboose were traveling northbound, returning from San Diego.

“The crew reported to the dispatcher they had run over a body,” said Mike Martin, spokesman for Santa Fe Railway. “I don’t know how much visual warning they had. But when you’re sitting up in a locomotive, sometimes things are laying on or near tracks and they can look like a bag or sack.”

Martin said the locomotives weigh 150 to 200 tons and were traveling at about 40 to 50 miles per hour at the time of the incident. The man, who was not identified pending notification of his family, was struck on a section of track at Las Vegas Avenue, east of the San Juan Creek bed and north of Coast Highway.