Honduran immigrant trapped in train car for two days rescued

Lomi Kriel and Vincent T. Davis
Express-News Staff Writers

The man thought he was going to die.

Hungry, thirsty and unbelievably hot within the metal train car where he had hidden for the past two days, he knew he had to do something when the train crawled to a standstill.

And it couldn't have stopped at a better place: the corner of Goldsmith and Garcia streets, in front of the Bexar County Sheriff's Department East Side substation.

"Lucky for him," Sgt. Russell McWhorter said.

The man, a Honduran citizen, had left his country several weeks ago, "fleeing the war," McWhorter said. He crisscrossed through Guatemala and Mexico before making it to Laredo, where "he paid a coyote $2,000 to get him to New York City," McWhorter said.