Poway teen killed by train in Del Mar

The pedestrian who was hit and killed by a train in Del Mar Sept. 23 was a teen from Poway, the Medical Examiner’s Office said Sept. 26.

The 19-year-old was using a cellphone application to stargaze with two friends when they heard the northbound train approach near 13th Street about 9:15 p.m.

The teens were sitting on a bluff west of the tracks and two of them decided to get closer to the tracks to take take video of the passing locomotive, sheriff’s Sgt. Richard George said.

The engineer of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe train saw them approach, and activated the train’s horn and switched on bright lights as a warning, but the teens didn’t move.

The Poway man was hit and died before he could be taken to a hospital.

The two friends, a man and woman, both 18 or 19 years old, told deputies the victim had been standing on the edge of one the railroad ties, and didn’t realize the train could hit him from that spot.

His name has not been released.

– Lyndsay Winkley is a writer for The San Diego Union-Tribune