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An adult male pedestrian was struck and killed by a Caltrain in Mountain View Wednesday morning, Caltrain officials said.
Witnesses said they saw the man behind a power box along the train tracks at the corner of Rengstorff Avenue and Central Expressway and that he jumped into the oncoming train, according to Jayme Ackermann, a spokesman for Caltrain.
The man was identified as 20-year-old Mitchell Munoz by the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office.
The fatality was reported to Caltrain at approximately 10:15 a.m., prompting a train service shutdown in both directions near Rengstorff Avenue. As of 11:12 a.m. the northbound train tracks were re-opened for trains traveling at 10 miles per hour, with all passengers asked to board trains from the northbound platform at the San Antonio and Mountain View stations. Southbound tracks remained closed.
All 103 passengers remained inside the train until the coroner arrived at the scene around 11:42 a.m. and recovered the body, when the train was allowed to continue southbound. Ackermann said in some fatality cases they are able to offload passengers at a nearby station sooner, but for safety reasons the passengers remained on board.
None of the passengers nor the crew on southbound train 134 reported any injuries.
Mountain View police blocked off access to Rengstorff Avenue from Central Expressway to Leland Avenue while authorities investigate the collision. As of 11:06 they re-opened access to Southbound Rengstorff.
Ackermann said this is the fourth Caltrain fatality this year. She said it’s an unfortunate circumstance that occurs as long as there is public access to the train tracks. There were 13 fatalities in 2013 and 12 in 2012, according to spokeswoman Christine Dunn.
During the investigation and police blockade, police said there were at least two traffic collisions that occurred along Central Expressway. Police officers who were at the accident scene quickly responded to the collisions.
Bay City News Service contributed to this report
