Amtrak Cascades kills two in Oregon: apparent double-suicide

[HighBall]

Daily Mail

Police in Oregon are investigating the deaths of two people who were struck by an Amtrak train as a double suicide.

The incident happened Sunday morning at 10:50am as Cascades train number 506 was making its way from Eugene to Portland.

The train struck two people on the tracks just south of Oregon City, a suburb of Portland.

Note the black boot between the rails to the right of the officer.

 

[andersone]

It is tragic when someone decides to take their own life, it is unacceptable that they want to involve others. My prayers for the train crew who through no will of their own will have to live with this for the rest of their lives.

 

[sitzplatz17]

Tragic indeed. Thoughts go to the crew and the families of these individuals.

Out of curiosity I wonder how long the line was closed for this incident.

I had started the thread about the suicide and subsequent disruption on the Penn Line between yesterday and I know it took a good 2+ hours to open the line again.

I wonder if the resolution takes longer or shorter over on the West Coast.

Also as a more positive aside, the picture (aside from the tragic aspect) reminds me how badly I want to ride the Cascades again!

Oregon is beautiful.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

It is tragic when someone decides to take their own life, it is unacceptable that they want to involve others. My prayers for the train crew who through no will of their own will have to live with this for the rest of their lives.

Perhaps if we stopped trying to sweep sensitive cultural problems under the rug we might be able make more progress convincing people to commit suicide in a more responsible fashion. Here in the US medical professionals, volunteer hotlines, outreach clinics, and even smart phones are prevented from offering guidance on peaceful non-disruptive suicide. This is due to charter and policy (and often by law) that assumes suicide is always preventable and never acceptable regardless of the circumstances. Which makes about as much sense as the "just say no" war on drugs or the "abstinence only" war on sex. In many cases even close friends and family are legally restricted from providing practical advice on suicide. If an adult subject has already decided that they wish to commit suicide it should be possible for them to seek assistance that gives them compassionate but practical information on how to do so responsibly. That being said I do not support allowing bullies to pressure people into committing suicide and I believe such actions should remain illegal and carry a severe life-altering punishment.

 

[Palmetto]

This phenomenon seems to be happening more and more, doesn't it? It seems somebody dies by train much more often these days, whether suicide or stupidity.

 

[fairviewroad]

This phenomenon seems to be happening more and more, doesn't it? It seems somebody dies by train much more often these days, whether suicide or stupidity.

I'd want to see hard evidence of this before drawing any conclusions. Is it happening more often, or does the nature of the internet mean we hear about it more? Twenty years ago an incident like this *may* have been on the local news but you certainly wouldn't have heard about it across the country. Now, thanks to message boards like this and others, I somehow seem to be aware of it every time someone decides to end their life with the assistance of a commuter train, be it in Metuchen, Des Plaines or Irvine.

 

[Eric S]

I only skimmed it so far, but here's an NTSB presentation (pdf) about railroad trespassing/suicide deaths. Looks like they've generally been slowly falling since the early 1990s with an uptick recently.

 

[Palmetto]

This phenomenon seems to be happening more and more, doesn't it? It seems somebody dies by train much more often these days, whether suicide or stupidity.

I'd want to see hard evidence of this before drawing any conclusions. Is it happening more often, or does the nature of the internet mean we hear about it more? Twenty years ago an incident like this *may* have been on the local news but you certainly wouldn't have heard about it across the country. Now, thanks to message boards like this and others, I somehow seem to be aware of it every time someone decides to end their life with the assistance of a commuter train, be it in Metuchen, Des Plaines or Irvine.

Well, I did use the word "seem". That word does not convey certainty relative to hard and fast conclusions. You're quite right that info is now more readily available than it was years ago.

 

[ScouseAndy]

always confuses me when all the media reports any deaths as "killed by Amtrak", "Amtrak train kills ....." or "Amtrak hits vehicle", its almost as if it the media is conditioning Joe Public to blame the trains in order to discredit Amtrak when the facts are generally someone whether by accident or carelessness or due to mental health issues as put themselves in danger and has caused the incident and the train/Amtrak could have done virtually nothing to prevent it.

 

[chakk]

There is plenty of information available already on the web on how one can commit suicide in a rather quick and mostly painless manner. Why should people in the medical profession have to be dragged in to the process to provide "compassionate counseling" to those who want to end their lives on ways to do it without impacting others?

Perhaps the ones who do it by standing in front of fast-moving trains WANT to "make a statement" and "hurt someone else, be it physically or emotionally, in the process? And if they do have that attitude, no amount of "compassionate counseling" is going to make them choose another approach -- they WANT to be in the limelight as they check out. Or they are simply too emotionally distraught themselves to think at all about how their actions will affect those other people who don't know them from Adam.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

always confuses me when all the media reports any deaths as "killed by Amtrak", "Amtrak train kills ....." or "Amtrak hits vehicle", its almost as if it the media is conditioning Joe Public to blame the trains in order to discredit Amtrak when the facts are generally someone whether by accident or carelessness or due to mental health issues as put themselves in danger and has caused the incident and the train/Amtrak could have done virtually nothing to prevent it.

This concern has been mentioned many times on the forum and I still don't get it. It's not a conspiracy, it's basic English.

There is plenty of information available already on the web on how one can commit suicide in a rather quick and mostly painless manner. Why should people in the medical profession have to be dragged in to the process to provide "compassionate counseling" to those who want to end their lives on ways to do it without impacting others?

Nobody mentioned dragging anyone into anything. I simply mentioned that by policy and law they are prevented from offering practical advice. Ignorance about suicide is rampant in our culture. I've read so many stories about people who tried to commit suicide and failed, often with physically debilitating results that only made everything worse, while others tried to "cry for help" only to inadvertently kill themselves out of ignorance. There are a lot of false assumptions and pop culture nonsense that has people taking the wrong pills, pointing a gun at the wrong location, and just generally making a mess of things instead of getting better or simply getting the job done.

 

[Cole737]

The train was running on time - but arrived into Oregon city roughly 2h30m late.

 

[andersone]

You miss my point. Kill yourself if you choose, just don't involve innocent others