TRAIN ACCIDENT: Teenager dead after being struck by train

July 15, 2010

Cal Poly – A San Luis Obispo high school student was killed Thursday afternoon after being struck by an Amtrak Coast Starlight train while crossing the tracks.

According to authorities, 17-year-old Oscar Gonzales was crossing from Murray Street and likely did not hear the train coming because he was wearing headphones. There was no indication that the boy committed suicide.

San Luis Obispo police Capt. Ian Parkinson said that Gonzales was “struck by the front of the train and thrown from the track area.” Two of his friends were with him when the accident happened.

“The friends did hear the train coming and they yelled at him but he didn’t hear them,” Parkinson added. The friends were not hit.

The train’s engineer hit the emergency brake and sounded the horn when he saw the boy. It stopped at California Boulevard at 3:50 p.m. after the crash.

The train which carried more than 200 passengers was kept at the scene for two hours before leaving at 6 p.m. It was heading north to Paso Robles, and its final destination is at Seattle.