Inmate Freed Only to Be Hit by Train : Mental illness: He had been released from jail less than three hours before he wandered onto the railroad tracks. The county had no hospital beds available.

The man on the railroad tracks stared at the oncoming headlights but did not step away as the Amtrak locomotive moved toward him at 15 m.p.h.

The horn sounded and the conductor reached for the emergency brake. A few moments later, the man on the tracks lay bleeding. Pinned under the locomotive, his right foot was crushed and both his arms and all his ribs were broken.

A plastic wristband identified the victim as William Penuela, 36, a recently released mentally ill inmate of the Los Angeles County Jail. Despite pleas from his family that he would not be safe on the streets, Penuela had been released from custody less than three hours before the train struck him on the evening of March 1.

Roy Penuela has filed a $50-million claim against the county on his brother’s behalf, alleging that jail officials should not have released William because they knew he was chronically ill. The county counsel’s office declined to comment on the case.

Diagnosed for 20 years as a paranoid schizophrenic, William Penuela was hallucinating and unable to care for himself as he left the Men’s Central Jail on foot, wandering toward the railroad tracks south of downtown, the claim alleges.

“I am angry at the system because I warned everyone that something like this could happen,” said Roy Penuela, a Glendale attorney.

“I asked (jail workers) to give him medication, but they didn’t,” Penuela said. “It would have reduced his hallucinations and he would have recognized the danger of the train.”

William had been arrested Feb. 13 for allegedly vandalizing a Glendale church. The charges were dropped two weeks later. Roy said he asked jail officials to help transfer his brother to a psychiatric hospital.

According to jail records, William was examined by a jail medical worker the day he was released.

“There’s nothing wrong with me,” William told the doctor. “I’m OK. I’m a miracle worker. . . . I don’t want to worship the devil.”

The medical worker ordered Penuela transferred to Module 4500, the unit for inmates with acute mental illnesses. Later that day, a county mental health worker telephoned Roy to tell him he agreed that William should be hospitalized. Unfortunately, no beds were available in the county system.

Without any of his family members being notified, William was allowed to leave.

Instead of walking away, William asked to be let back in jail, his brother alleges. He told a sheriff’s deputy he wanted to be taken to “Folsom prison to escape the devil.”

The deputy chased him away. William headed for the railroad tracks.