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Fact Check

A guy was sentenced to 11 successive life sentences after abandoning his automobile on train tracks near Los Angeles in a suicide effort, resulting in a train crash that eliminated 11.

In April 2022, a meme circulated on social networks describing the results of a train accident, along with text stating the cause of the crash. We will include a screenshot of one version of the meme posted to Twitter, with the Twitter users name cropped out for privacy:

The tweet above refers to a real incident, although it didnt happen in downtown Los Angeles. It took place in Glendale, a city approximately 10 miles north of downtown L.A

The 2005 crash was the second most dangerous in Metrolinks history, gone beyond in 2008 by a collision between a commuter train and a freight train in Chatsworth, a San Fernando Valley community in northwest Los Angeles. In that crash, 25 people passed away when the westbound train they were riding in collided head-on with an eastbound freight train.

Sources:
Mikalian, Arin. “Officials Look Back at Deadly 2005 Train Crash.” Glendale News-Press, 27 Jan. 2015, https://www.latimes.com/socal/glendale-news-press/news/tn-gnp-officials-look-back-at-deadly-2005-train-crash-20150127-story.html.
U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Railroad Administration. “Metrolink 111 Collision with UP.

The reason for the Chatsworth crash was determined to be a distracted Metrolink engineer, who was texting and failed to see a red danger signal alerting him to the approaching train.

The tweet above refers to a real incident, although it didnt take place in downtown Los Angeles. The crash happened on Jan. 26, 2005, just after 6 a.m. when a Metrolink commuter train headed south smashed into an SUV parked on the tracks, killing 11 people. As the Los Angeles Times reported, the train jackknifed. “Metrolink 111 Collision with UP.

. The crash occurred on Jan. 26, 2005, simply after 6 a.m. when a Metrolink commuter train headed south smashed into an SUV parked on the tracks, killing 11 people. As the Los Angeles Times reported, the train jackknifed. Aside from the casualties, nearly 200 people were hurt.

The meme is accurate in that the cause of the mishap was a male who parked his car on the tracks, and later told private investigators he prepared to commit suicide, however altered his mind at the last minute, abandoning the lorry. The man, Juan Manuel Alvarez, was undoubtedly sentenced to 11 consecutive life sentences, as the meme states.