MAN DIES AFTER BEING HIT BY TRAIN : AUTHORITIES SAY VICTIM HAD BEEN DRINKING, DID NOT RESPOND QUICKLY ENOUGH TO WARNING.

Byline: Alicia Doyle Daily News Staff Writer

A 42-year-old homeless man was killed Tuesday night when he was struck by a train while sitting on the railroad tracks two blocks east of First Street, authorities said.

Eduardo Munoz of Simi Valley was on his way back from buying soda during a visit with his sister and a friend at approximately 9:20 p.m., when he sat on the railroad tracks. Munoz had been drinking earlier that evening and was intoxicated at the time of the accident, officials said.

``I got to hold his hand before they took him away,'' said his sister, Dee Dee Ward, who was told the news after police had identified the body. ``I just held his hand and kissed his face.''

The Southern Pacific freight train was traveling approximately 50 miles per hour westbound toward First Street, authorities said.

As the train approached First, conductor James Cooper saw a man sitting on the tracks a short distance ahead. Cooper blew the air horn several times, and Munoz turned his head and looked at the train.

Lt. Tony Harper of the Simi Valley Police Department said Munoz didn't get up fast enough and was killed instantly.

Munoz and his sister were staying overnight with Nikki Miller, a homeless friend who lives inside an old, rusted Dumpster on a dirt road near the railroad tracks behind the Dennert Garage Door Co. property on First.

The owners of the company allow Miller and her dog, Kodi, to live in the Dumpster for free because they keep an eye out for burglars, Miller said.

Munoz has been staying there for the past several weeks while looking for work.

The accident occurred roughly 20 feet from the Dumpster, where Ward was asleep at the time.

Ward said she is used to hearing trains going by each day, and she didn't wake up when the conductor blew his horn to warn her brother to get off the tracks.

Miller, who was awake but didn't know the victim was Munoz, was later approached by police on the scene.

``They said, `do you know this man?' '' Miller recalled. ``I knew it was Eddie. He never came back. He just didn't come back.''

In Ventura County there have been 11 incidents of trains hitting people on the tracks since 1989, said Mike Furtney, a spokesman for Southern Pacific Lines. Of those 11, four were killed, Furtney said, not including Munoz.

The tracks in Ventura County are shared by Metro Link, Southern Pacific and Amtrack, Furtney said, with between 15 and 20 trains running through the county on a daily basis.

Munoz led a simple life, his sister said, spending late nights talking with friends outside under the moonlight, smoking his favorite cigarettes and drinking cold beer.

Content with his humble life, Munoz earned $5 an hour as a maintenance worker at a gas station in town, and lived in an old trailer, Ward said.

The tall, skinny man earned the nickname ``spaghettio'' because he rarely ate. Though overly protective of his sister, Munoz was known for his quiet, kind demeanor. He would give a needy person his last dollar, Ward said, if it meant he had to go hungry.

``He was homeless, but so what,'' Ward said. ``He was a really good man.''

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2 Photos

Photo: (1--color in SIMI edition only) Nikki Miller, lef t, comforts Dee Dee Ward near First Street in Simi Valley, where Ward's brother was fatally struck by a train Tuesday.

(2--ran in CONEJO edition only) Southern Pacific train conducter James Cooper tells Simi officers he saw Eduardo Munoz sitting on the tracks east of First Street.

Andy Holzman/Special to the Daily News