Train Kills Girl Crossing Tracks

A 12-year-old girl, who never let her cramped city apartment douse her dreams of owning a horse, was killed Tuesday after apparently trying to outrun one of the many trains that whiz past her working-class neighborhood in Santa Ana.

Elizabeth Tepox was going home from Burger King with her older sister and toddler niece when she darted in front of the northbound Metrolink train shortly after 5 p.m., authorities said.

It was the second fatality in two months near the heavily traveled train crossing at the intersection of McFadden Avenue and South Lyon Street.

Witnesses said warning lights were flashing and gates were down when Elizabeth, her sister and niece started to cross the tracks. Halfway across, the mother and daughter stopped, but Elizabeth continued into the path of the train, which hit her and carried her body 100 yards down the track.

Witness Jesus Serrano said Elizabeth had her head down and kept crossing, even though the train was coming.

“My wife said, ‘She’s not going to make it.’ Three seconds later, the train passed and took her away. It wasn’t until I got out of my car that I could see where,” Serrano said.

Santa Ana police spokesman Sgt. Raul Luna said the warning arms and lights did function.

“What it boils down to is, ‘Look before you cross,’ ” he said.

Luna said the other two pedestrians were lucky that they were not pulled into the path of the train by the force of the wind that it creates when it passes.

The accident drew more than 200 spectators to the site. At least a dozen of Elizabeth’s family members also huddled near the tracks, sobbing and hugging one another. One relative arrived at the scene and screamed, “Why, why?” and nearly fainted. Paramedics believe Elizabeth died on impact and pronounced her dead of massive trauma at the scene. The mother and daughter were not injured.

Police do not believe that the conductor of the train was at fault.

An average Metrolink train weighs 450 tons and travels up to 79 mph, taking three seconds to go the length of three football fields. An engineer needs about a third of a mile to bring the train to a stop.

The train was en route from Irvine to San Bernardino at about 5:09 p.m. when the accident occurred, according to Claudia Keith, a spokeswoman for Metrolink.

“Safety is always Metrolink’s first priority,” Keith said. “That’s why we go out to schools and do all kinds of outreach--yet tragedies like this continue to happen. When it’s a child it really hits home--it’s tragic no matter what, but when you hear about a child it really breaks your heart.”

The girl’s father, Umberto Tepox, 42, rushed to the scene and was buried with hugs from grieving family members.

“I’m trying to be strong, for myself, for my family and for my wife, who is pregnant. We feel bad. It’s hard to put it into words,” he said.

The family came from Cholula, Mexico, and had lived in Santa Ana for 12 years, keeping close contact with their homeland. Elizabeth was born in Mexico and had come to the United States seven years ago.

She was a fifth-grader at Kennedy Elementary School in Santa Ana. She was the second-youngest child of Emelia and Umberto Tepox. The couple have seven children, ages 3 to 22.

In March, another pedestrian was struck and killed by a train at that same crossing. A 25-year-old man was thrown 200 feet by a southbound Amtrak train after he apparently ignored warning bells and a lowered crossing arm.

“This is no more dangerous than any intersection,” Luna said. “It’s the pedestrians who are not paying attention to the signals and obeying the law.”

Still, residents who live by the track believe the area is dangerous and wonder whether anything can be done to stop the fatalities.

George Montes lives two blocks away from the accident and was at the scene with his 9-year-old son. He said he frequently sees pedestrians crossing the busy tracks, which run adjacent to two shopping strips.

After the death two months ago, Montes thought twice about letting his family walk near the area.

“There are too many accidents and too many trains coming,” he said. “I never let my son cross here. We only cross it in our car.”

The trains are an integral part of the lives of the residents of Normandie Terrace, a swath of apartments that lie just behind the tracks. The residents hear them coming and going.

In fact, Umberto Tepox was so sick of their noise and so fearful of the threat they posed to his family that he was ready to move this month to another apartment.

“Now, I wonder if we will be out on time,” he said. “The trains pass so fast. I never liked how they would go by. Why can’t they speed where people don’t live and go slower where they do?”

The family described Elizabeth as a good student who spent her afternoons doing homework and then enjoying programs on the Disney Channel.

“She wanted a horse,” said her father, as he broke down in tears. “She was saving the money we gave her to buy a horse.”

He said Elizabeth rode a horse only once, in Irvine, and remembered the experience fondly. She also loved other animals, such as rabbits and birds. But the family had no pets because they were not allowed in the apartment complex.

A police chaplain spoke to the family, and they then left to pray at their church. Then they returned to their sparsely furnished apartment, decorated by religious images, including the Virgin of Guadalupe, and family photographs, including Elizabeth when she received her first Communion.

Umberto said he hoped to bury Elizabeth in Cholula, although he wonders how it will be possible. His immigration status does not allow him to leave the country, and he does not have enough money to get the body back.

The family asks that any donations be sent to Bank of America at 23831 El Toro Road in Lake Forest.

David Haldane, Ana Beatriz Cholo, Alex Katz and Kate Folmar contributed to this report.