Witnesses to fatal train crash sought

Riverside, Ca- Riverside Police Department Traffic Investigators are seeking witnesses to a truck-train collision at the Jurupa Avenue crossing in which a 19-year-old Riverside man was killed on July 18, 2006.

At 6:23 a.m., Tuesday, July 18, a westbound Metrolink commuter train struck a black 1992 Toyota pick-up truck that had been positioned across the railroad track at the moment of impact. The train staff did not see the truck prior to impact; the train came to rest about 2,035 feet down the track when the truck wreckage and the badly injured driver were discovered. There were no known street-level witnesses.

The driver, Joshua Allen Freeman, 19, of Riverside, was taken by ambulance to Riverside Community Hospital where he died at 12:40 p.m., following emergency surgery. He was the lone occupant of the vehicle. There were no injuries to the 98 passengers or two crew members of the train.

Anyone who may have seen this truck in the vicinity of the tracks, or who witnessed the truck-train collision, is urged to contact Riverside Police Detective Ken Madsen at (951) 353-7989.