Truck driver charged with manslaughter in Oxnard Metrolink crash

Truck driver charged with manslaughter in 2015 Oxnard Metrolink crash

1/16

Aerial view of the Metrolink train derailment in Oxnard. The crash occurred at the Rice Avenue crossing, causing three cars to derail and injuring at least 28 people. (Don Kelsen / Los Angeles Times)

2/16

Oxnard police Officer Sarah Shobe removes tape in preparation of reopening Rice Avenue on the morning of Feb. 25, a day after the crash. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

3/16

Crews continued to monitor the rail tracks after a night of repairs at the intersection of Rice Avenue and 5th Street in Oxnard. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

4/16

The Metrolink track at the intersection of Rice Avenue and 5th Street in Oxnard was operational Feb. 25. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

5/16

Salvage crews work on the derailed Metrolink train cars in Oxnard on Tuesday afternoon. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

6/16

Ventura County first responders at the scene of an overturned Metrolink train car in Oxnard Tuesday, after it collided with a vehicle on the tracks. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

7/16

An uninjured passenger from the Metrolink train derailment in Oxnard gestures to the media Tuesday, after the train he was riding in colliding with a vehicle on the tracks. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

8/16

Ventura County first responders at the scene of an overturned Metrolink train car in Oxnard Tuesday. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

9/16

Firefighters and first responders on the scene of a Metrolink train derailment in Oxnard early Tuesday morning. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

10/16

Officials examine a Metrolink train that derailed in Oxnard early Tuesday morning. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

11/16

Firefighters inspect a Metrolink train car that derailed in Oxnard early Tuesday. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

12/16

Firefighters inspect a Metrolink train car that derailed in Oxnard early Tuesday. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

13/16

A Ventura County first responder at the scene of an overturned Metrolink train car in Oxnard after it colliding with a vehicle on the tracks. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

14/16

A firefighter hoses down hot spots after a Metrolink train collided with a vehicle on the tracks in Oxnard early Tuesday. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

15/16

Metrolink passengers wait to be transported after their train derailed in Oxnard early Tuesday. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

16/16

A Ventura County sheriff’s deputy inspects an overturned Metrolink train car in Oxnard early Tuesday. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

By Matt HamiltonStaff Writer

Feb. 22, 2016 5:03 PM PT

The driver of a pickup that was stopped on railroad tracks in Oxnard before it was struck by a Metrolink train, causing the train to derail, was charged Monday with vehicular manslaughter.

Jose Alejandro Sanchez-Ramirez faces one misdemeanor count in the Feb. 24, 2015, crash that left one person dead and 34 injured, Ventura County Dist. Atty. Gregory Totten said in a statement.

Sanchez-Ramirez was driving southbound on Rice Avenue near 5th Street about 5:30 a.m. when he turned right onto the railroad tracks and stopped, prosecutors said.

“Mr. Sanchez-Ramirez did not notify authorities of his predicament prior to the collision and derailment,” according to the statement from the district attorney’s office.

A preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board released last March found that the driver had intended to turn onto East 5th Street but mistakenly veered onto the tracks. Since the train hadn’t yet approached, the grade crossing’s warning system was not activated, the report said.

Join the conversation on Facebook >>

At some point after it became stuck, Sanchez-Ramirez got out of the truck. As the train approached the vehicle, the driver’s-side door was open and the headlights and hazard lights were turned on, the report said.

Four of the train’s cars derailed; three of them overturned.

After the crash, police said that they found Sanchez-Ramirez walking more than a mile from the crash site, and that he was visibly disoriented. He was arrested on suspicion of felony hit-and-run involving multiple injuries but was later released after prosecutors declined to file charges, pending the outcome of investigations into the crash.

The National Transportation Safety Board has not yet released its final report on the crash.

Sanchez-Ramirez could not immediately be reached Monday for comment. His attorney previously said that his client, a resident of Yuma, Ariz., was in the area for work and thought he was turning onto a street.

If convicted of the charge, Sanchez-Ramirez faces up to one year in county jail. He’s scheduled to be arraigned March 23.

For breaking news in California, follow @MattHjourno.

Times staff writer Veronica Rocha contributed to this report.

ALSO

Small plane crashes, hits several parked cars near Whiteman Airport

Expo line halted after Metro train collides with vehicle

91 Freeway reopens in Corona after weekend closure