UPDATED: City Sees Second Bike vs. Train Fatality

Santa Fe Police are having trouble identifying a man killed Monday morning when he biked into the path of a Rail Runner Express train as it crossed St. Michael's Drive.

Police spokeswoman Celina Westervelt says investigators are relying on fingerprint and dental records to help identify him. 

The second train/ bicycle fatality in the city this year has local police and the state Department of Transportation collaborating on "an effort to educate the community on the dangers of these intersections," she wrote in a press release.

Both the unnamed cyclist and Suzanne LeBeau, who was struck by a train near the intersection of Zia Road and St. Francis Drive in April, were apparently riding on the sidewalk. Train officials say bells and lights that warn traffic of the coming train were functioning in both cases. Barriers that drop over traffic lanes when trains are about to pass through an intersection don't cross sidewalks.

Westervelt says police want to remind cyclists and pedestrians who use the trail system that they should carry identification in case of emergency.  

UPDATE: On June 19, police identified the cyclist as 41-year-old Joseph Salazer, of Española. Westervelt says investigators believe he was not wearing headphones or a helmet at the time of the crash. They say photographs of his hat and jewelry helped identify Salazar.

Santa Fe Reporter