By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, December 20, 1990
The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NEWS | Page B03
A man was struck and killed by a northbound NJ Transit train as he was lying on the railroad track Tuesday night, police said.
Mahwah police Lt. Jim Bartelli said police were not ruling the death a suicide at this time, adding that the identification of the victim would be withheld until it could be confirmed with the family. Bartelli gave no description of the victim, other than to say he was Hispanic.
The man was pronounced dead at the scene, Bartelli said.
The engineer of the train, which left Hoboken for Suffern, N.Y., at 10:15 p.m., applied the brakes and sounded a whistle as soon when he saw the man on the track, said Sandra Check, an NJ Transit spokeswoman.
“The person failed to move,” Check said. “There was just no way to stop.”
The accident occurred about 11:21 p.m., about 1 1/4 miles from the Ramsey station, Check said.
None of the 10 passengers and about five NJ Transit employees on the train was injured, Check said.
The passengers were put on a bus and taken to their destinations. The tracks in both directions were closed for about two hours, until emergency vehicles were cleared from the scene.
Bartelli said Mahwah police were trying to determine where the man was going and what he was doing on the track at the time of the accident.
“We have a tentative identity but we are not a hundred percent sure until we speak to next of kin,” he said.
ID: 17327333 | Copyright © 1990, The Record (New Jersey)
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