Sep 14, 2008 9:12 pm US/Pacific
Coroner Lists Dead In Metrolink Tragedy
LOS ANGELES
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Photo by Darrin Nupuf
Darrin Nupuf/CBS
Officials said 24 people died at the scene and a 25th died Saturday afternoon at a hospital. With so many victims critically injured, more deaths are still possible.
"Details on the victims, like their city of residence or who they worked for, we do not have as of yet," said coroner's Lt. John Kades.
Of the 222 people aboard Ventura County Line train No. 111, which left Union Station in downtown Los Angeles at 3:35 p.m. Friday, 135 were injured in the crash, said Los Angeles City Fire Department spokesman Ron Myers.
Of those, 45 were listed in critical condition and 40 were in serious condition, while 50 suffered minor injuries.
According to the Los Angeles Police Department, one of the fatal victims was Officer Spree Desha, who was 35 years old.
Assistant police chief James McDonnell said Desha was killed as she rode home in uniform.
"She sat in the first car, in uniform, as was her practice, so if someone got on the train who was disruptive, she could help out. That's the way she did business," he said. "She was always looking out for someone else."
She joined the department in 2001 and worked at North Hollywood Division, and most recently had been assigned to the department's Office of Operations.
Two lines of LAPD officers stood at attention and saluted as her body was removed from the crash site Friday night.
Paul Long, who taught English at Oaks Christian School, died Saturday afternoon after being taken off of life support at County-USC Medical Center, his friends told the Los Angeles Times.
Long was on the train with his wife and son, on their way home from the funeral of Long's mother in South Carolina, the newspaper reported.
His wife and son also were injured in the crash, but were expected to survive.
"It is going to be a great loss for the school," headmaster Jeff Woodcock told The Times.
Long's name was not yet put on the list because he died at a hospital on Saturday.
The engineer of the Metrolink train has not been officially identified, but teenage train enthusiasts who said they were texting with him minutes before the crash said he was 46-year-old Robert Sanchez. His name was not among those released by the coroner's office.
None of the decedents has yet been examined by a deputy medical examiner, so no official cause of death has yet been established for any of the victims, according to the office.
Below is the list of fatal victims so far released by the coroner.
- Christopher Aiken, 38
- Dennis Vernon Arnold, 75
- Alan Lloyd Buckley, 59
- Dean Lafoy Brower, 51
- Yi Chao, 71
- Spree Desha, 35, of Simi Valley, Los Angeles Police Department Officer
- Walter Arney Fuller, 54
- Michael Andrew Hammersly, 45
- Jacob Alan Hefter, 18, of Palmdale, a student at California State University, Long Beach
- Kari Hsieh, 18
- Ernest Stephen Kish II, 47
- Gregory Lintner, 48, he survived the Glendale Metrolink crash that killed 11 people
- Manuel Macias, 31
- Aida Magdaleno, 19
- Charles Edward Peck, 58
- Howard Barry Pompel, 69
- Donna Lynn Remata, 49, of Simi Valley
- Doyle Jay Souser, 56
- Maria Elena Villalobos, 18, of North Park, a student at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising
- Atul Vyas, 20
- Ronald G. Grace, 55, of Simi Valley
- Beverly Rivers Mosely, 57, of Moorpark
- Roger Spacey, 60, of Simi Valley
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
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