Maine Man Killed by Amtrak Downeaster Had Ear Buds On

(SOURCE: By Leslie Bridgers / Portland Press Herald, Maine)

BIDDEFORD, Maine -- The wife of the man who was killed by an Amtrak train Monday said he was wearing ear buds as he walked home from a convenience store and couldn’t hear the Downeaster coming when he was hit on the tracks near their home on West Cutts Street.

An Amtrak spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday that Sean Page, 40, was the victim, but didn’t respond to requests for other information about the investigation into the fatality. Biddeford Deputy Police Chief JoAnne Fisk declined to comment on the investigation because it is open, she said.

Residents of West Cutts Street said Wednesday that they think the passenger train should slow down through the area, which is close to the train station in Saco. They said people often cross the tracks behind their homes, just off Main Street, and students walking home from Biddeford High School often play "chicken" with the train.

Fisk said police aren’t aware of that happening.

"We see it all the time," said Keith Desrosiers, the Pages’ neighbor.

Valerie Page said she was upset by reports that investigators said her husband was trespassing on private property, which isn’t marked -- something she wants to see changed.

"I want signs put up. I want fences put up," Page said. "If it’s a law, they should enforce it."

Pan Am Railways, which owns the property and also is investigating, could not be reached for comment Wednesday evening.

Investigators have said little since the Downeaster, headed from Portland to Boston with 55 passengers, struck and killed Page about 3 p.m. Monday. No one else was injured.

Valerie Page said she learned of the accident when she got home around 4 p.m. Monday, but didn’t learn until hours later that her husband was the victim. Ultimately, she said, he was identified by his tattoo of their 8-year-old son’s name -- Davin.

Ernie Bouras, manager of the Boston Connection convenience store on Elm Street, said Sean Page bought cigarettes there just before the accident, as he did every day. As usual, they said hello to each other.
"He was a nice guy," said Bouras.

Others who knew Page described him Wednesday as a talented artist and a devoted father. In addition to his son, he had a 17-year-old stepdaughter, Shandi Tergesen, said his wife.

Page grew up in Brunswick and graduated from Mount Ararat High School in Topsham.

His wife said he mostly had odd jobs until he starting working at Coopa Creations Fine Art Tattooing & Body Piercing on Main Street in Biddeford, where he learned to be a tattoo artist. She said he worked there for about four years and left a couple of years ago.

She said he was opening his own tattoo shop in downtown Brunswick.

Jessica Orifice, who still works at Coopa Creations, said Page was "a great artist" who liked to do graffiti-style drawings and anything with a Halloween theme. He was the first person she tattooed -- with a rose on the back of one of his legs.

His love for his son, who used to come into the shop, was evident, she said. "They were really cute together."
Valerie Page said she met Sean online in 2001 and they got married six months later near Portland Head Light in Cape Elizabeth.

She said he loved to be by the ocean and felt a deep connection with nature. He had the energy level of a child, a goofy sense of humor and a knack for making people laugh, she said.

Page said her husband’s character could be summed up by the name he planned to give his tattoo shop -- All Heart.

"That’s what he was, all his life," she said.