Amtrak Train Strikes, Kills Man Running Across Ventura Tracks

A Los Angeles-bound Amtrak passenger train struck and killed an unidentified man as it sped through the city of Ventura on Thursday, authorities said.

Police and Amtrak spokesmen said the train, the Coast Starlight en route from Seattle to Los Angeles, struck the victim on the tracks near South Laurel Street. The train was held up for more than 1 1/2 hours while police and coroner’s deputies examined the scene.

Police Sgt. Bob Velez said the man was in his late 30s or early 40s. He said authorities had not yet identified him.

Velez said the area where the incident took place includes a number of hobo camps.

“Either he was trying to commit suicide or he was trying to get to a camp before the train passed through the area,” Velez said.

Train attendant Louie Martinez said the victim was apparently running across the tracks when struck. Passengers later saw two teen-age boys fleeing the train tracks about 6:25 p.m. when the train came to the emergency stop in Ventura.

Martinez would not allow any passengers to see the accident. “It’s not a pretty sight,” he added.

Martinez estimated that the train was traveling about 55 m.p.h. about 10 to 15 minutes from the Oxnard terminal when it hit the victim.

The death was the third involving an Amtrak train in Ventura County in the past four years.

In 1986, an Amtrak passenger train struck a flatbed truck just west of Moorpark, killing the truck driver and injuring the train’s engineers.

Last year, a 35-year Oxnard man, Lorenzo Ruelas, was killed by a train traveling at 70 m.p.h. as he walked on the tracks outside Oxnard.

Times staff writer Amy Louise Kazmin contributed to this story.