Community Corner

UPDATED: Fatal Train Accident Investigation Leaning Toward Suicide, Police Say

Police are not releasing identity of victim, who was killed at 8:29 p.m. Sunday.

Update, 2:40 p.m. Monday: Sunday night's fatal train accident that killed a 32-year-old man is being investigated as a possible suicide, said Capt. Dennis Angle.

“We are conducting an investigation,” Angle said. “The initial part of the investigation is leaning toward a suicide.”

The exact cause and determination will be made at a later date by the Waukesha County Medical Examiner’s office. Waukesha Patch will not be identifying the man because of the suicide information.

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

Update, 11:45 a.m. Monday: The Waukesha County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed late Monday morning the victim in the fatal train crash was a 32-year-old man who lived in a nearby group home.

The investigation is continuing and an autopsy is planned for Tuesday, according to the medical examiner's office.

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

Update, 9:50 a.m. Monday: The Waukesha Police Department is not yet releasing additional details about the fatal train accident that killed a pedestrian on the tracks Sunday night, Sgt. John Konkol said.

More information may be available on Tuesday as police go through the reports, Konkol said.

"It is not going to be anything suspicious," Konkol said.

Meanwhile, the police department's call log states that an off-duty emergency medical technician from Sussex tried to find a pulse on the victim at the scene but could not find a pulse.

Original story: A pedestrian was killed after being struck by a train near East Main Street and Hartwell Avenue at 8:29 p.m. Sunday,  said Sgt. Gregg Satula, who is with the Waukesha Police Department.

Waukesha Police Department detectives are investigating the death, Satula said, and police will not release further information Sunday night.

Satula said police are not releasing the identity of the victim until after a death notification is made to the family.

The railroad crossings in Waukesha were closed to traffic for blocks and drivers slowly turned around to find a way to the other side of Waukesha. Traffic was free to cross the tracks near East Broadway.

Bystanders gathered along the tracks, questioning what happened. One young woman, when learning that a man had been killed, gasped and put her hand over her mouth to mask the shock.

"I feel really bad," that woman, with a tear in her eye, remarked to a friend as they stood on the sidewalk.

Another Waukesha woman, Perla Perez, who lives on East Main Street, said she didn’t see the collision but heard the train honking its horn before the crash.

“It looked like the train was going to derail,” Perez said.

Perez told her son to grab the phone and check out the crash to call 9-1-1. Perez also went outside and emergency vehicles were on scene. Her son came back to tell her what happened, Perez said.

“He said, ‘Ma, someone got hit by the train,’” Perez said.


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