FULLERTON : Train Hits, Kills man Sitting on Tracks

A Buena Park man who was sitting on railroad tracks with a friend was killed after he refused to heed a train conductor’s warning to get off the tracks, Fullerton police said Friday.

Larry Charles Peterson, 43, died around 11 p.m. Thursday when a Santa Fe Railroad freight train knocked him off the tracks in the 1800 block of West Commonwealth Avenue, Fullerton Sgt. Joe Klein said. Peterson’s companion, 32-year-old Wesley Park of Long Beach, escaped injuries when he scampered away, Klein said.

Klein said the conductor saw the two men sitting on the tracks as the train traveled through a small commercial complex at a speed of 45 m.p.h.

Park got off the tracks after the train’s horn was sounded. The engineer told investigators that he braked but could not avoid slamming into Peterson, Klein said.

Park, who was arrested on the scene for public drunkenness, was released on his own recognizance Friday morning. Klein said an autopsy would seek to determine whether Peterson also was intoxicated.