Death of man hit by train in Royal Oak ruled suicide

Royal Oak — Authorities say the death of a man who was struck in Royal Oak by a Chicago-bound Amtrak passenger train has been ruled a suicide.

Royal Oak police Lt. Dave Clemens says the department isn’t releasing the name of the 23-year-old Pontiac man who was hit early Wednesday. He says the man’s family reported he’d been depressed.

Clemens tells the Daily Tribune of Royal Oak on Friday that investigators learned from interviewing the train’s crew that the man was lying across the railroad tracks and they couldn’t stop the train in time.

No one aboard the train was injured. The train was heading from Pontiac to Chicago. The crash happened in an area where there’s no track-level crossing for other vehicles or pedestrians.