Riverbank teen hit by train, suffers head injuries

RIVERBANK -- A teenager suffered serious head injuries when he was apparently hit by an Amtrak train in Riverbank on Friday evening.

The 17-year-old Riverbank boy was with a group of friends walking along the tracks under Atchison Street just after 5 p.m., according to Stanislaus County sheriff's deputy Royjindar Singh.

They were headed to a nearby park, but the 17-year-old told his friends he was going to stay behind. Singh didn't know why he intended to stay there or whether his friends questioned his decision, but they went ahead without him.

The friends later told deputies they saw the Amtrak train pass through the area at a low speed and then stop.

Singh said the operator of the Amtrak train radioed to the operator of a freight train behind it, saying he might have hit someone. The operator of the freight train spotted the boy, stopped and called 911. Meanwhile, his friends left the park and went to the scene.

The boy suffered a severe head laceration and was taken to a local hospital. Singh said investigators are trying to determine what part of the train hit him and how his injuries were isolated to his head.

The freight train that stopped blocked traffic along Patterson Road, a major thoroughfare in Riverbank. It caused traffic congestion in the area for at least half an hour.