Light-rail standoff ends with snack
Man comes down fromatop empty train after nearly 12 hours
SAN JOSE — A man who held authorities at bay atop a light-rail train came down after nearly 12 hours Thursday, with the help of a sheriff’s deputy, a cherry picker, a bag of trail mix and a Superior Court judge.
Kyle Lewis eagerly gobbled up the snack after clambering into the basket of the cherry picker, which had been raised to the roof level of the unoccupied train at the Component station along North First Street. It was a welcome ending to a standoff that actually didn’t involve much standing, as Lewis spent much of the stalemate lying down as crisis negotia- tors coaxed him down.
A veteran deputy who had arrested Lewis a month ago for an undisclosed offense had a large hand in talking him off the train, Sgt. James Jensen said.
“He built a rapport with him during that arrest.”
Judge Stephen Manley, who runs the county’s lauded mental health court, made a special appearance at the site, offering additional insight to the negotiators and having a conversation with the kind of person he’s seen countless times in his gallery. Sheriff Laurie Smith called for Manley in the late hours of the standoff.
“The sheriff reached out to him as another expert in the field to assist,” Jensen said. “That’s not typical at all.”
The incident began at 1:20 a.m. Thursday, when a light-rail operator heading
to the train yard to clock out for the night saw a man on the tracks. The operator was able to stop the train in time to avoid hitting him, but the shirtless man clad in shorts somehow scaled the train and got on the roof.
Dispatchers with the Valley Transportation Authority immediately ordered that power be cut off from the train, and the rest of the track was de-energized to quell any electrocution risk. Meanwhile, Lewis got as comfortable as one can get atop a train.
In the hours after the initial encounter, the 25-yearold Lewis was described as “despondent, agitated and incoherent” as he refused pleas to get down from the train, saying he wanted to disrupt the commute. He alternated between standing, sitting and lying down, reportedly spat at deputies who used a cherry picker to get close to him, and at one point gave them a one-finger salute.
It was learned during the encounter that Lewis, whose last known residence was in the small Monterey County town of Prunedale, was on probation for an undisclosed conviction. He was suspected of being under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
The clash caused huge ripple-effect delays in the transit system that serves 34,000 people each day in the South Bay. Trains between Mountain View — where Caltrain connects — and the Baypointe station were thinned, in part because the incident prevented trains housed south of the standoff site from entering the track system. Bus bridges gamely tried to make up for the reduction.
Shortly after 1 p.m., Lewis got into the cherrypicker basket and was lowered to the ground.
As he tore into a bag of trail mix placed in the basket, he was put in an ambulance and driven away from the scene.
The minimally harrowing experience drew a rebuke from VTA, which said the incident should bring to mind the inherent dangers of trespassing onto the tracks.
In a statement, the agency noted that trains can run on all tracks regardless of direction, not to mention the inherent electrocution risks from the overhead power connectors.
The morning’s events could also prompt a review of policies aimed at preventing a similar occurrence in the future.
“VTA makes safety a top priority and is always evaluating processes, procedures and features of our system to improve safety and to adapt to changing security needs,” the agency said.