Crime & Safety

UPDATE: Palo Alto Resident Dies in Caltrain Fatality

Caltrain traffic was stopped Thursday night between the Menlo Park and California Avenue stations.

The victim was identified as 23-year-old Clayton Carlson of Palo Alto.

Caltrain struck and killed a pedestrian Thursday night.

At approximately 8:40 p.m., southbound train No. 190 hit a trespasser on the tracks about a quarter- to a half-mile north of the Churchill Avenue crossing in Palo Alto, according to Caltrain spokeswoman Christine Dunn. The cause of the fatality has yet to be determined.

Find out what's happening in Palo Altowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The train was a local train and was stopping at all stations.  

Emergency personnel arrived at 9 p.m. At 11 p.m., both tracks were open for travel, Dunn said.

Find out what's happening in Palo Altowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

This marks the 10th fatality on the Caltrain right of way in 2011. Last year, there were 11 fatalities.

Caltrain uses a "multifaceted approach" to prevent pedestrian fatalities, Dunn said, focusing on engineering, education and enforcement.  More information on Caltrain’s efforts is available here.

A tweeter with the username @mikegee was on board and tweeted that the accident involved a fatality.

"I'll never forget the sound," he tweeted, "Ugh. People on the train are very casual about this. It's quite sad."

At 9:20 p.m., @mikegee uploaded the photo you see attached to this article via Instagram.

@mikegee said, "It was a person, no car involved. They were running straight into the front of the train."

Menlo Park Patch Editor Vanessa Castañeda and Bay City News Service contributed to this report.


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