Murder charges brought in California rail crash that killed 11
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Associated Press Emergency personnel walk past the wreckage following a commuter train accident Wednesday, in Glendale. Two Metrolink commuter trains derailed, killing 11 people and injuring hundreds of others as morning commuters were sent tumbling down the aisles, authorities said.
GLENDALE – The suicidal man who authorities say caused the chain-reaction train derailment that killed 11 people and injured nearly 200 was charged with multiple counts of murder and could face the death penalty, the district attorney said Thursday. Juan Manuel Alvarez, 25, left his sport utility vehicle on a railroad track Wednesday after changing his mind about committing suicide, authorities said. He was held without bail at a hospital's jail ward after apparently slitting his own wrists and stabbing himself in the chest. Due to Alvarez's medical condition, his arraignment was postponed from Thursday to Friday, district attorney's spokeswoman Jane Robison said. The last person reported missing was accounted for Thursday and firefighters ended recovery efforts. All but one of the dead had been identified.
Associated Press Juan Manuel Alvarez, 25, faces murder charges in train wreck. Related news:
A list of other serious U.S. train accidents
Sheriff's deputy, train conductor among derailment victims From today's U-T:
11 killed in 3-train wreck near L.A. Video
A commuter train smashes into an SUV left on a crossing by a suicidal man, sending the train careening off the tracks in a wreck that kills 11 people and injures about 200.
Cable-DSL / 56k The FREE RealPlayer plug-in is necessary to play RealMedia. Quotes about the deadly commuter train derailment: "I heard a noise. It got louder and louder. And next thing I knew the train tilted, everyone was screaming and I held onto a pole for dear life. I held on for what seemed like a week and a half. It was a complete nightmare, like nothing I've experienced in my 6½ years of taking the Metrolink."
–Passenger Diane Brady, 56, of Simi Valley "We hit and then somebody's head landed on my thigh ... I sat there and I tried to comfort her. I didn't know what else to do. Then it got really smoky, so smoky that I had to leave. I don't know what happened to her."
–Passenger Paul Konkirati, 28, of Burbank "He was saying he was thankful (to be pulled out) because he didn't want to burn. He was saying, 'Pray for me, pray for me.' I was telling him stay awake because he was going into shock."
–Hugo Moran, a 34-year-old receiving clerk, referring to an elderly victim who later died from his injuries "A few other times he went around as if he wanted to kill himself. I said, 'If you're going to kill yourself, go kill yourself far away. Don't come by here telling that to my sister.'"
–Maricela Amaya, sister-in-law of suspect Juan Manuel Alvarez, as translated from Spanish-language TV station T52 Telemundo Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley said prosecutors filed charges late Wednesday for 10 counts of murder with so-called special circumstances of committing murder through a train derailment. Under state law, the allegation makes Alvarez eligible for the death penalty. Cooley said the complaint would be amended to add another count to refer to the 11th victim, found in the wreckage late Wednesday night. Prosecutors were evaluating Alvarez's mental state in regard to the special circumstance allegations, but Cooley said it was no defense to the charges. "His despondency doesn't move me," the district attorney told The Associated Press. "The mere fact that he was a little upset or despondent doesn't mean he has a defense for anything. It may actually work to support our case." Alvarez's state of mind, while not providing a motive, could show his intent to commit a crime, Cooley said. He noted that a defense of not guilty by reason of insanity has a very high standard of proof. Separately, a suicidal man who parked his sport utility vehicle on railroad tracks in Orange County was arrested early Thursday, said Irvine police Cmdr. Dave Freedland, declining to say if it was a copycat situation. The man drove off when police spotted him and, after a chase, a dispatcher talked him out of suicide during a cellphone call. Glendale Police Chief Randy Adams said the case against Alvarez was put together so quickly because every one of the department's more than 20 detectives worked on it, temporarily suspending all other investigations. "The facts so far are really irrefutable," Adams said, while adding that investigators were still trying to reconstruct the exact sequence of events in the crash. Alvarez got out of his green Jeep Cherokee before the two commuter trains crashed in this Los Angeles suburb. He stood by as the gruesome chain-reaction wreck scattered wreckage and bodies over a quarter-mile of track. The SUV was stuck between tracks away from a crossing and once there, he could not have moved it even if he had tried, Metrolink CEO David Solow said. The southbound train that struck it slid off the tracks, hit a parked Union Pacific railcar, then clipped the northbound train. The crash was the worst U.S. rail tragedy since March 15, 1999, when an Amtrak train hit a truck and derailed near Bourbonnais, Ill., killing 11 people and injuring more than 100. "I hope that we're able to assess this in a way that we can figure out: Is there a way that we can stop one crazed individual from creating this kind of carnage?" Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn told reporters. The rails were expected to reopen Monday, Metrolink officials said. Among the two women and nine men killed was a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy on his way to work. About two dozen people were hospitalized in critical condition. Alvarez's estranged wife, Carmelita Alvarez, had ordered him out of her Compton home months ago, her family said. In December, she obtained a temporary restraining order keeping him away from her, their 3-year-old son and other family members. "He is using drugs and has been in and out of rehab twice," she said in asking for the restraining order. "He threatened to take our kid away and to hurt my family members." Carmelita Alvarez, who went into seclusion shortly after the crash, also told the court her husband's drug use was triggering hallucinations. The wounded Alvarez was under suicide watch but was listed in stable condition, and Sheriff Lee Baca said Thursday on CBS' "The Early Show" that Alvarez "was rather astounded himself as to what the outcome was." The force of the 6 a.m. collision hurled passengers down the trains' aisles. "I heard a noise. It got louder and louder," said Diane Brady, 56, of Simi Valley. "And next thing I knew the train tilted, everyone was screaming and I held onto a pole for dear life. I held on for what seemed like a week and a half, it seemed. It was a complete nightmare." First on the scene were workers at a Costco store next to the tracks, who helped remove some of the injured in shopping carts. Uninjured passengers also joined the rescue effort. Costco employee Hugo Moran said an elderly man, covered in blood and soot and with apparently broken arms and legs, was pulled out of the wreckage but died soon after. Before he died, he thanked his rescuers and asked them to pray for him. Another trapped man had used his own blood to write a note on a seat bottom. Using the heart symbol, he wrote "I love my kids" and "I love Leslie." The man's identity wasn't known, but Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Capt. Rex Vilaubi said he was removed from the wreckage alive. Associated Press Writers Robert Jablon and Laura Wides contributed to this report.
Eleven charges of murder have been brought against the driver who caused the Glendale train crash, in which 11 people died. 

Juan Manuel Alvarez, 25, could well face the death penalty for his actions. It appears he parked his Jeep Cherokee on the railway line with the intention of committing suicide, but then changed his mind and left the vehicle. Three trains carrying approximately 350 people were involved in the crash, injuring up to 200 passengers.

His arraignment was delayed from Thursday to Friday due to his medical condition. He was charged with 11 counts of murder and was held without bail in a hospital's jail ward after apparently slitting his own wrists and stabbing himself in the chest. Prosecutors have filed 10 counts of murder with so-called special circumstances, and will add the 11th victim to the complaint shortly. Under California law, this makes Alvarez eligible for the death penalty.

The accident was caused as a result of a chain-reaction derailment of three Union Pacific trains. Investigators are continuing to try to determine the exact sequence of events.