Man killed by train in New Rochelle ID'd
NEW ROCHELLE - The 40-year-old man struck and killed Monday night by a Metro-North Railroad train was identified Tuesday as Fernando Aguilar.
Witnesses said the New Rochelle man was acting strangely just before jumping onto the track about 8:40 p.m. He apparently had been talking with others near the station when he got up suddenly and ran toward the train.
"I heard the noise but I didn't see where he was running," Eduardo Roman said. "I know he was right over here. I turned around, but he was already gone."
Roman, of New Rochelle, said Aguilar had been with a friend earlier in the evening, but that the pair had parted ways for the night. Authorities could not say what drove Aguilar to jump in front of the train.
A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said the 40-year-old survived the initial strike and was taken to Montefiore New Rochelle Hospital. He died there about 10 p.m.
The train that struck Aguilar had left from Stamford, Connecticut, at 8:04 p.m. and was to arrive at Grand Central Terminal by 9:10 p.m., officials said. The tracks were de-energized briefly during the rescue effort, but delays along the New Haven Line were said to be minimal. New Rochelle and MTA police officers responded. The death is being investigated as a suicide.
Staff writer Lee Higgins contributed to this report.