Laguna Hills Man Struck, Killed by Train in Illinois

A Laguna Hills reservist with the National Guard, vacationing with his family in Illinois, was struck and killed by an Amtrak train on Independence Day as he and his 4-year-old son were walking their dogs on the railroad tracks, authorities said.

John Luther Morris, 43, pushed his son, Michael, out of the oncoming train’s path before stumbling and falling on the tracks, said Capt. Jack Fields, a sheriff’s officer in Godfrey, Ill. Michael was not injured.

“His very last act--saving his son--is just so typical of John,” his wife, Reneigh, said Friday in a telephone interview from her father’s house in Illinois. “He was a Vietnam vet, decorated for bravery in the field.”

Morris, who owned Newport Custom Clothier in Laguna Hills, and his family were visiting Reneigh’s parents in Godfrey for the Fourth of July holiday, his wife said. Godfrey is 25 miles north of St. Louis, Mo.

The three-year reservist with the National Guard was scheduled for four weeks of summer training at Fort Huachuca Army Garrison in Arizona starting Monday.

Her husband’s death “was such a freak accident,” said Reneigh Morris, 31, a kindergarten teacher in Laguna Beach. “Somehow, my children and I, we’re going to go on.”

Amtrak train No. 303, en route to St. Louis, was rounding a curve at 4:50 p.m. Thursday when it struck Morris, Fields said. The train’s engineer, Stanley D. Allison, told authorities that he did not see the father and son until it was too late.

The train’s fireman, Steven M. Suhs, told investigators that he saw Michael run one way and his father the other as the train approached. Morris apparently ran back after his son and pushed the boy off the tracks, the fireman said.

A neighbor found the boy wandering near the tracks a short time later, asking if people had seen his father, Reneigh Morris said.

“He was running and looking for his dad,” she said sadly. “Just looking for his dad.”

Morris’ body was found 90 feet from the tracks, and he was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Madison County coroner’s office.

Morris’ body will be flown back to Orange County in the next few days, and burial will be at Westminster Memorial Park.