A California homeless man has been arrested on suspicion of stealing the severed leg of a victim hit by a freight train at an Amtrak station…then eating it.
Homeless Man Captured On Video Taking Leg From Victim of Amtrak Station Crash, Then Eating It
Just north of Los Angeles in the small city of Wasco in Kern County, a BNSF train struck a pedestrian on Friday, March 22, 2024. The man was killed instantly…a tragedy in its own right. But what happened next was just depraved.
A homeless man, identified now as 27-year-old Resendo Tellez, walked by the scene, began sniffing the body, then took a severed leg with him and kept walking. He was observed chewing on the leg, in which the flesh and bone were visible.
Here’s the video, if you care to watch (it’s blurred):
Kern County sheriff’s deputies tracked him down and arrested him: he now faces multiple criminal charges.
A Problem We Cannot Ignore
This is a paradoxical world we live in. While progress has been made in many areas of social and economic life, there is a persistent problem of homelessness and mental health in one of the wealthiest nations on Earth. California voters just backed Proposition 1 earlier this month, which will fund new construction of housing and treatment facilities for people with serious mental health illnesses. The provision passed on a narrow 50.2% to 49.8% margin, with many voters worried about California’s ballooning budget deficit. But will that help or fail like so many other past initiatives?
My aim here is not to analyze California politics further, but to simply acknowledge what a problem the Golden State (and other US states) face when it comes to homelessness and mental health. As a world traveler, I simply do not see the sort of blight, extreme poverty, and danger from very sick people that I see in my own city of Los Angeles in other Western nations…and comparing Los Angeles to developing nations is not a badge of honor. I don’t want favelas and lunatics in my city.
CONCLUSION
An unreal video is sadly real…a homeless man descended onto the scene of an Amtrak station crash, picked up a leg, and appeared to eat it. For all my love of fancy hotels and first class flights, sometimes I need to stop and better examine the world around me…and realize that our current approach is not working.
And this is related to travel how? Clickbait much? Just because the leg came from an Amtrak station?!?!
I write about what interests me and the homeless and mental health crisis is something that is particularly eye-opening to me as someone who travels to major cities around the world and does not see nearly the problems that I see in my own hometown.
The Donner Party, coming soon to your backyard.
Democrat heaven
Trump won Kern County in 2020. It’s a red county. That political nonsense also has nothing to do with the story, but I thought I’d do some research for you. You’re welcome.
Yeah except it’s California, where homelessness is a problem ALL across the state and the democrats have a supermajority. Believe me, I used to live in that dump.
You’re welcome
Totally. I live in downtown Austin. A democrat hasn’t won a single statewide race here in Texas in over 20 years, and you know what… we don’t have any homeless people in Austin. Not a single one!
https://www.austinecho.org/about-echo/homelessness-in-austin/#:~:text=We%20estimate%20at%20least%206%2C683,single%20day%20in%20October%202023.
We estimate at least 6,683 people experienced homelessness in Austin on a single day
@OxyTrojan I think you may not have noticed my sarcasm.
As far as I know the mayor of Austin is a Democrat. That explains the homeless there.
Please explain to me what the republican solution to homelessness is
It’s a national problem, there is no support for poor people and this is what happens. It’s just worse on California because it is a more expensive place to live.
Solving the mental health issues are relatively simple, look at the many other countries who have implemented progressive policies for the benefit of all. It starts with taking care of children and ensuring they don’t end up in poverty. Many American parents are working 40+ hours a week, stressing about bills, barely making more than laughable minimum wages. Give them wages they can live off of, give them off to take care of their children without fear of losing their jobs. Make childcare affordable. Solutions are out there and we know what they are but here in America it’s the parents fault for having children that they can’t take care of. Of course not assisting those in need just perpetuates the cycle.
Don’t see it in other countries? That is because in other countries, those people are hidden from view in either the mental hospital or families keep them at home. In quite a few countries, the household consists of 3 generations, occasionally 4.
And that strikes me as the better approach. Of course, there are mental health issues in every place in the world. But the US seems unique in the West in that these people can roam the streets and terrorize people and even get guns…
To be fair, it’s an issue in Canadian cities as well. Especially Vancouver. Though much more limited access to guns.
First I am going to be ill.
My town is planning removal the transient homeless camps and building a village to house this population. It is to include social services with a mental health clinic on site. While we do not have a large population we are at the crossroads of 2 rail systems and 2 major interstate highways. My fear is not from the homeless (we already treat them well) but an understanding many just don’t want to live indoors. Hopefully it will benefit the women that are most at risk.
He’s just down on his luck and holding out for a senior management position at an F500 company. We should celebrate him.
Also, Trump made him do this.
Did miss anything?
Yeah, for those of us who travel extensively, it is shocking how much worse the mental health issues are in America. We are also the most highly medicated country. And spend the most on mental health. So clearly what we are doing is not having the desired outcome. Doing more of the same seems like a waste.
That being said, did he at least cook the leg? Somehow eating it raw is much worse.
That being said, did he at least cook the leg? Somehow eating it raw is much worse.
That’s a joke right?
95% reduction in institutionalized mental healthcare, because the theory was that we could give people drugs and create a network of outpatient mental health clinics (most of which was not funded) and that would take the place of inpatient care. So now mental health issues are just as prevalent, maybe more, and the people who need care are left to determine when they should get medicated.
Don’t worry about it, the mental health crisis will get fixed just as soon as someone figures out how to make a lot of money on the problem. Until there is private sector money to be made, we all get to deal with the problem one on one as we go about our daily lives. That’s been the American way since about 1970.
Some people like the breast or the wing better. This guy likes the leg. What can you do?
No worry everyone, this event was probably only a misdemeanor, so arrest and release on no bail. And to make another point, this unhoused person was just trying to overcome food inequity. Plus he was recycling the leg. Now, if only his mail in ballot can be harvested for the November elections…
The people didn’t worry about the ballooning budget deficiet more than CA’s inability to handle money. Still waiting for the high speed rail from LA to SF that was passed back when the governator was in office. Billions spent with nothing to show for it.
Eating human legs is a new one. But I had my experience with homeless people in SF and Seattle pulling their pants down in major streets and taking a dump like they were in the Four Seasons bathroom. People walked by like that was the most common thing ever. To each its own.
Without Roe v Wade, expect to see a spike in homeless and mental issues in a few decade.
Building proposition 1 into Los Auschwitz or San Guantanamo doesn’t solve the problem.
The leaders who won’t retire doesn’t care about this when and if they live to 100 years.
We need to push for people in their 50s to run this great nation.
There, I clicked on it. Didn’t bother to read the thing. Hope it helps with your numbers.
I think the point I was making was an important one.
Leave the border open, subsidize the illegals who enter, then wonder why we don’t have the resources to handle the homeless crisis.