By Cathy Locke and Bill Lindelof
blindelof@sacbee.com
An 18-year-old Citrus Heights man was reported in serious but stable condition late Monday afternoon after being struck by a Regional Transit light-rail train while he was walking on the tracks talking on a cell phone.
The incident occurred shortly after 10 a.m. Folsom Police said the train operator told officers that the train was headed toward Sacramento after leaving the Iron Point Road Station in Folsom. The train was coming out of its first southbound turn, just north of Highway 50 when the pedestrian was spotted on the tracks.
The operator, a 13-year Regional Transit employee with 1-1/2 years operating experience, told police the man was walking toward the oncoming train. The operator said the man had his head down, a hat covering his eyes and was talking on his cell phone.
The operator tried to avoid the collision, but the pedestrian never looked up and was struck by the train. The operator stopped the train and ran to the pedestrian. The man told the operator he had been walking on the tracks so he could talk on his phone away from the road, where he could have been hit by a car, according to a Folsom Police Department news release.
The 20 passengers spread among two train cars were not injured and continued to their destination after an hour delay, police said. The track to Folsom was closed for several hours while investigators collected evidence.
The man suffered a 6-inch to 8-inch cut to his calf, an open wound fracture to his thigh bone and an evisceration to his abdomen, police reported.
Sacramento Regional Transit and Folsom Police remind people that it is a violation of the California Penal Code to walk on or within 20 feet of train tracks.
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