MTA IDs third victim of last week's fatal LIRR crash
A view last week of the westbound LIRR train that crashed into the platform at the Westbury station after a collision with an SUV. Credit: Howard Schnapp
MTA Police on Wednesday identified the third of three men killed in last week’s LIRR train crash involving an SUV.
Jesus Hernandez, 24, of Brentwood, was one of three men in the sport utility vehicle that tried to “beat the train” on Feb. 26 at a railroad crossing in Westbury. The SUV was hit by two trains going in opposite directions, authorities said, killing all three.
After the collision, the westbound train derailed and traveled about 800 feet before crashing into the concrete platform at the Westbury station.
The two other men in the SUV had been identified earlier as Miguel Angel Jimenez Luna, 36, and Saul Martinez Caravantes, 28, both of Westbury. The identity of Hernandez required DNA testing.
All three worked at the Fine Fare Supermarket on Old Country Road in Westbury. Jimenez Luna was the manager of the meat section, and Martinez Caravantes worked in that section, according to co-workers. Hernandez was the dairy manager, said Raul Rivers, 33, the seafood manager at the store.
Hernandez had been at the store for six years. He was single and had no children, Rivers said. He was from Mexico, and he had just bought some land in that country, hoping to build a home there, Rivers said.
Hernandez would talk about sending money home to his mother in Mexico. She would say she’s saving it, but he would tell her to spend it, Rivers said.
Craig Schneider is a Long Island native and Stony Brook University alumnus. He joined Newsday as a general assignment reporter in January 2018 after 20 years at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
