Suicidal rail crash driver charged with 10 murders

The suicidal man blamed for the chain-reaction train derailment that killed 11 people in Los Angeles has been charged with multiple counts of murder and could face the death penalty, the district attorney said today.

Juan Manuel Alvarez, 25, left his 4X4 vehicle on a rail track yesterday 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.

In addition to the 11 dead, a woman remained missing and nearly 200 people were injured.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley said prosecutors filed charges for 10 counts of murder with “special circumstances” of committing murder through a train derailment. An 11th murder charge is to follow.

Cooley stressed however that the case were still being evaluated. Under state law, special circumstances allegations could make a defendant eligible for the death penalty.

“He’s not going to engage my sympathy because he was despondent. His despondency doesn’t move me,” the district attorney said.