When 22-year-old Portland State University Aaron Salazar’s body was found comatose and severely battered next to some Amtrak train tracks in California last May, an Amtrak investigation concluded that he’d tried to commit suicide by throwing himself from his moving train. His family believes he was thrown off the train by a homophobic attacker.
Salazar has awakened from his coma and recently released a brief video refuting Amtrak’s conclusion.
In his first public statement since the incident, Salazar (the right side of his body seemingly paralyzed) said, “I wanted to thank everybody for the love and support and the prayers and … I want you to also know I did not jump off the train. I would never ever try to kill myself.”
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Shortly after his body was discovered, an update on the GoFundMe page dedicated to his medical care said that Salazar had sustained severe injuries including a broken pelvis, damaged brain stem and severe burns on his thighs.
Salazar had been on the train traveling from Portland, Oregon to Denver, Colorado. At 9:03 a.m. on Tuesday, May 15, he sent a text message to his great grandmother saying, “I have a layover before getting on the next train. I made a friend on the train and we’re going to go get some food and explore.”
His body was discovered at 11:10 a.m. that same morning.
Amtrak chief of police Neil Trugman said investigator interviewed Salazar’s aforementioned “friend.” The friend claimed Salazar never re-appeared after they agreed to meet. Trugman added that several passengers described Salazar as “distraught” and “having life issues.”
Sadly, Salazar can’t remember much about what actually happened. According to another update, “When asked about the train, [Salazar] sadly cannot remember (which after speaking to the doctor said is normal due to a mix of both the injury, and his brain protecting him from the traumatic event). Although with time and therapy, he might be able to remember things on his own.”
He is now recuperating at a physical rehabilitation facility in Colorado, where he grew up.
Salazar’s family accused Amtrak of withholding information during their investigation and automatically investigating Salazar’s injuries as suicide-related rather than considering other alternatives.
The family claims that an FBI agent has since collected DNA evidence from the clothes Salazar wore during the injury to see if they reveal an attacker’s presence.
Clay83
Are there no CCTV cameras on the train or in the station?
Chrisk
In this day and age yes.
Juanjo
No, Chris, there are no cameras on the trains. There might or might not be in the stations. Depends on the station. Likewise, exactly who are these “witnesses” and what specific behavior did they observe? You do not know and neither do I. You are just talking bullshit, repeating the comments by Amtrak in the article.
I do not know what happened here. Unlike you, I would like to see a little more investigation. In this day and age, one can never be completely certain what the facts are. Unless one is an omniscient ape.
Chrisk
The other passengers said he was acting weird before the incident so maybe he had some kind of mental breakdown or he was partying it up and got carried away.
Mack
There are so many unanswered questions that the Amtrak Police could have solved but possibly because he’s gay they didn’t. This route that Salazar took has had several incidents in the past.
QueerTruth
It’s very presumptuous to assume Amtrak had any reason to hide information. Amtrak is Queer friendly and a case of attempted murder or attempted suicide would make no difference to Amtrak Police politically or their reputation. They would have no gain. Hiding facts they would lose much.
Now that doesn’t mean they haven’t made errors, but I do not see why Amtrak would try to hide that.
It’s very sad and I’m happy the victim is safe and recovering.
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There have been numerous incidence before on Amtrak.
Google “Amtrak incidents Aaron Salzar”
Aaron was found with numerous injuries inconsistent with “jumping from a train” including severe burns to his genital area. This is a complete bull cover-up. Hope all involved are exposed and face severe penalties
Miffopro
”I made a friend on the train and we’re going to go get some food and explore.”
All things considered, that’s one weird thing to text your great-grandmother… ?
happiness17
How a days a person can’t trust anyone. Especially while traveling. The other person may seem friendly enough. One can wonder what their motives are for being friendly with someone they don’t even know.