Juan Manuel Alvarez (born 1978) is a Californian suspected of causing the January 26 2005 Glendale train crash, a collision between a passenger train and a car in Glendale, California (a suburb of Los Angeles). The derailed train also hit a Union Pacific Railroad freight train parked on a siding and the northbound commuter train on the third track. The collision left eleven people dead, and nearly 200 injured.

When the news broke out nationally, it was said that Alvarez was a fugitive. Alvarez is in custody, where he faces eleven charges of homicide.

Alvarez was allegedly suicidal long before the incident occurred. According to some reports, he had attempted suicide previously.

Police believe that Alvarez decided to kill himself that day, but that he changed his mind immediately before the train hit his vehicle, jumping out of the car and observing as the collision took place.

Alvarez is from Compton, California.

External link

• CNN's account of the collision