State Traffic Officer

California Highway Patrol

10/10/1990

Special Act Award (Gold)

At approximately 4:50 p.m., while on patrol in the vicinity of the Union Pacific Railroad tracks, in the unincorporated area of San Lorenzo, Officer Velez was notified by several citizens standing near the railroad tracks of a suicidal suspect standing between the Union Pacific tracks and the Bay Area Rapid Transit tracks. Officer Velez drove his patrol vehicle approximately 500 feet north of Lewelling Boulevard, where he observed a young man trying to climb a raised concrete structure with an attached wire fence that borders the B.A.R.T. tracks. A friend of the suspect, who had solicited the aid of another citizen, was standing nearby. The friend and citizen advised Officer Velez that the young man was intending to commit suicide. Officer Velez returned to his patrol car and notified dispatch of the situation and followed the suspect as he continued for several hundred feet. Officer Velez again stopped his patrol car with its right side 5 ½ feet from the nearest rail and exited. As Officer Velez exited his vehicle and approached the young man he noticed a freight train approaching from the south at a distance of ¼ mile. Officer Velez engaged the young man in conversation, grasped him, and then walked west, across the tracks, ahead of the patrol car toward its left side. As the freight train neared the patrol car, a struggle ensured as the young man attempted to break free from Officer Velez and make his way into the path of the train. Officer Velez grabbed the young man around the waist with one arm and the patrol car’s push bumper with his other arm in an effort to keep the man from reaching the train. As the train began to pass, the young man began to break free from the officer’s hold. Without regard for his own safety, Officer Velez released his grip from the patrol car’s push bumper, and moving in the direction of the train, threw himself onto the young man’s back. Falling to the ground, with Officer Velez on top of the suspect, and both of their heads laying approximately 6 inches from the passing train, Officer Velez continued to hold the man as he struggled for approximately 30 seconds until the train passed. Shortly thereafter, officers from Oakland Police Department arrived and took the young man in custody. Officer Velez' determination and tenacity, and with great risk to his personal safety, managed to stop the multiple attempts by the suicidal man to jump in front of an oncoming freight train and saved the victim's life.