Train Kills Man Sitting on Tracks in Lawn Chair

A 26-year-old man was struck and killed by a freight train Thursday after he reclined on a lawn chair he placed between the tracks, put earphones over his head and apparently waited for the train coming down the tracks, authorities said.

“When you sit on a lawn chair with your earphones over your head and the train coming at you I would say it was a suicide,” said Det. R.S. Uber of the LAPD Valley Traffic Division.

Michael Kevin McAndrew of Sun Valley died at the scene, said Scott Carrier, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said.

“It appears to have been a suicide,” Carrier said, adding that the body has not been formally examined.

Police responded to the tracks on the 7700 block of N. San Fernando Road at about 8:40 p.m., Uber said.

Witnesses told authorities about seeing McAndrew sitting at the tracks, Uber said.

He said the train was traveling at about 38 mph and it honked its horn. A family member told police the man had been depressed and had threatened to commit suicide, Uber said.