BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — A horrifying video circulating on social media Friday appeared to show a man carrying a severed body part of someone killed by a train in Wasco.
The sheriff’s office said a man was arrested following the alleged incident.
The video was recorded following a deadly train collision and shared with 17 News.
The Kern County Fire Department said emergency crews responded to a report of a train colliding with a person near G and 7th streets in Wasco at around 8:05 a.m. A person was pronounced dead from the collision.
A witness told 17 News it appeared the man was carrying a severed leg.
The sheriff’s office said Friday afternoon Resendo Tellez, 27, removed evidence from the scene. Deputies located and arrested Tellez a short time later at 7th and F streets, according to inmate records.
Tellez was booked into jail for taking evidence from a scene and outstanding warrants, officials said in a release. BNSF is investigating the collision.
According to inmate records, Tellez is booked on a charge of removing or mutilating human remains.
Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff’s office at 661-861-3110.
Friday’s incident marks possibly the second time this year someone removed a body part from a crash scene.
Carlos Baldovinos, executive director of The Mission at Kern County, said he wasn’t present for the incident, but was told someone brought a hand to the shelter three weeks ago, just days after a train hit a pedestrian in east Bakersfield.
He said law enforcement was called.
“I have never seen or heard of anything like that before,” Baldovinos said.
Where did the hand come from? That’s unclear.
The mystery deepens even further: police say Union Pacific investigators accounted for all body parts in the east Bakersfield crash.
BPD Sgt. Eric Celedon said he could not locate a call for service at the mission on the day the hand was reportedly brought there.
KGET’s Jason Kotowski contributed to this report.
