Freight train crashes into homeless pedestrian, San Jose police say victim has significant injuries

Freight train crash in San Jose, homeless person injured

A freight train sits idle on the tracks in San Jose at 8th and Taylor streets after a crash. Police say an unhoused resident has significant injuries

SAN JOSE, Calif. - San Jose police say an unhoused pedestrian has significant injuries after they were struck by a freight-train on Monday.

Police said around 3:30 p.m. that the train is stopped and would be sitting on the tracks for about an hour at 8th and Taylor Streets. Police said it was a Union Pacific train and that it struck the pedestrian at Empire and 6th streets.

A security guard told KTVU they saw the homeless person get struck by the train. The guard said the homeless person is 70 to 80 years old and that he saw the train coming but stumbled.

"The train got real close to him and it hit him on the back side there on the right side and he fell face forward to the ground," said Anthony Olivarez, the security guard who witnessed the impact.

He said the train did not run the victim over. "It hit him pretty hard to the point the side of his face was pretty busted up. He fell on the side gravel of the train tracks." Olivarez said that he's heard this is someone who walks along the train tracks daily.

Olivarez, who works at the Grace Community Center, said another unhoused resident came to the victim's aid. "As I got closer, I just told him don't touch him, don't move him or anything like that." He said they tried to help as much as they could.

San Jose Police Department said Union Pacific Railroad is investigating this incident.

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