Man Killed as Train Hits Car : Fatality: Victim apparently committed suicide after breakup with his girlfriend. Metrolink passengers delayed but unhurt.

A 28-year-old man, apparently distraught over a break-up with his girlfriend, backed his car onto railroad tracks Thursday morning and was killed by a northbound Metrolink train with more than 200 passengers aboard, authorities said.

The crash was the second fatal train incident in Orange County this week and the first in the county involving the new Metrolink commuter line, which made its Orange County debut March 28, officials said.

Authorities said the incident appeared to be a suicide, but the county coroner’s office had not completed its investigation Thursday evening.

Sheriff’s deputies had been searching for the crash victim, David Michael Gavin, since Wednesday evening, when they were called to his Laguna Niguel home on a report of a domestic dispute.

“He was gone when we got there,” said Sheriff’s Lt. Dan Martini. “His girlfriend told us that she had been assaulted by him when she tried to end their relationship.” Authorities said Gavin, his girlfriend and their year-old child lived together.

Gavin was not seen again until he was found at the scene of the crash, which occurred at Camino Capistrano, south of Avery Parkway, at 6:10 a.m.

The engineer was unable to stop the northbound train, which was traveling about 65 m.p.h. when it plowed into Gavin’s Isuzu Impulse, dragging it beneath the 100-ton locomotive for a quarter-mile, said Metrolink spokesman Peter Hidalgo.

“The train was making a curve when the engineer noticed a motorist had backed onto the tracks,” Hidalgo said. “He blew his horn and immediately applied the brakes but the individual did not move.”

The incident occurred at a railroad crossing on private property, one of five private crossings in the county. Because access is restricted to the property owner, no crossing arm or flashing lights are required. However, warning stripes were painted on the street and a warning sign was posted in compliance with state and federal regulations, officials said.

None of the passengers or crew members on the train were injured, but some were delayed in reaching their destinations by as much as three hours. Passengers were placed on buses and taken to their respective stops.

A second northbound Metrolink train, not involved in the crash, was delayed in reaching Los Angeles by one hour. Southbound train traffic was not affected.

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Passenger Evelyn McNitt Silk said the incident was the third in three years in which she was riding a train involved in a fatal incident. Silk, a nurse practitioner, ran out of the train and attempted to help Gavin, who died at the scene.

“Emotionally, it really upsets you,” Silk said. “The most upsetting thing is someone getting injured or killed. And then you are hours late for work. I’m really shook up and I think I will be for a while.”

Another passenger, Ann Cutchall, an attorney who began riding the Metrolink train shortly after its debut, said, “This is my first experience like this and I hope it is my last experience. I said a prayer for the man in the car, but I understand he died. It’s a very sad thing.”

Northbound, rush-hour traffic on Interstate 5, which runs near the crash scene, was backed up as much as seven miles in a snarl that lasted about three hours after the crash.

Thursday’s incident was the second in three days in which someone apparently committed suicide by moving in front of a train traveling though the county.

On Tuesday night, a 17-year-old girl dived onto railroad tracks in front of a southbound Amtrak train in what authorities have officially labeled a suicide. None of the train’s more than 100 passengers were injured in that incident, but they were delayed on the tracks for almost three hours.

The teen-ager, an Irvine resident, apparently had made statements to family members about suicide following a family argument.

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Federal Railroad Administration officials said a train collides with a vehicle about every 90 minutes in the United States. More than a thousand pedestrians were killed or injured by trains last year as well.

“These are the leading causes of death in our industry,” said spokesman John Fitzpatrick. “They are almost always preventable if people understand the laws of crossings and obey them. Many of the collisions are accidents, but it’s safe to say that a significant number are suicides.”

Metrolink officials said that so far this year, they have distributed 500,000 safety flyers to Orange County residents who live along the railroad tracks and have made safety presentations to about 70,000 students at local schools.

Still, railroad officials said, there is only so much they can do.

“Unfortunately, some of these things aren’t preventable,” said Amtrak spokesman Howard Robertson. “We find that even the best fence in the world is not going to deter someone from getting through and taking their own life.”

Times staff writer Len Hall contributed to this story.