Train Runs Over, Kills 2 Men Sitting on Tracks
Two men sitting on the Southern Pacific railroad tracks in Pacoima were run over and killed about 2:30 a.m. Saturday by a train, Los Angeles police said.
The engineer of the southbound Southern Pacific locomotive saw the men on the tracks near San Fernando Road and Goleta Street, Sgt. Jay Frey said.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. Sept. 21, 1989 For the Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday September 21, 1989 Valley Edition Metro Part 2 Page 9 Column 3 Zones Desk 1 inches; 24 words Type of Material: Correction
Train victim--An article on Sunday incorrectly identified Robert Allen Stafford, who was struck and killed by a train, as a transient. Stafford was a resident of Reseda.
Frey said the engineer sounded the train’s whistle and horn. “The victims did not respond to the noise and before they could stop the train, both were hit and killed,” Frey said.
The victims were identified as Robert Allen Stafford, 45, and Robert Joseph Yanks, 41, both transients, said David Campbell, supervising investigator with the Los Angeles county coroner’s office.
Frey said no foul play was suspected, and no notes or other indications of suicide were found. He said there were some indications that the men “may have been drinking or something, but we don’t know that for a fact.”
Coroner’s investigators said their examination of the bodies had not been completed.
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