SIMI VALLEY : Coroner Identifies Man Killed by Train

The Ventura County coroner’s office has identified a man who authorities said committed suicide by jumping in front of a Metrolink commuter train in Simi Valley on Christmas Eve.

Patrick Anderson, 34, of Simi Valley reportedly leaped onto the tracks about 5:30 p.m. Thursday along Los Angeles Avenue, just west of Erringer Street, and was hit by the train and dragged about a half mile before it could stop. Anderson, who was unemployed, had a long history of depression, according to Deputy Coroner Jim Wingate.

Anderson was identified Friday through a statewide fingerprint-analysis system, Wingate said.

Metrolink officials said Thursday night that the westbound commuter train, which carried 200 passengers, left Union Station in downtown Los Angeles about 4:20 p.m. and had just dropped passengers at the Simi Valley station.

Four Metrolink trains were delayed on the tracks for about two hours. The suicide was the second rail-related fatal incident in the county in a week. On Dec. 18, three Oxnard men were killed and a fourth badly injured when an Amtrak train slammed into their van as it crossed a private, unguarded crossing near Moorpark.

Thursday’s fatality was the first Metrolink-related death in Ventura County since the double-deck trains began running Oct. 26. Los Angeles County has had one Metrolink fatality.