SAN DIEGO – Authorities Thursday released the name of a Fresno County man killed last weekend when his car crashed off Interstate 5 near Camp Pendleton and was hit by a commuter train.

Carlos A. Garcia of Squaw Valley died at the scene of the freak accident on Sunday, a week shy of his 23rd birthday, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Shortly after 9 that evening, Garcia was heading south at high speed in the San Onofre area, weaving between lanes to pass traffic, when he veered to avoid another vehicle and lost control of his 1997 Honda Accord, the California Highway Patrol reported.

The sedan careened off the west side of the freeway and landed on railroad tracks that run alongside it.

“And literally 10 seconds later, a train comes and hits the car head- on, cutting the car in half,” CHP public-affairs Officer Jim Bettencourt said.

The impact hurled Garcia, who was not wearing a seat belt, from the wreckage. He was dead when emergency crews arrived.

The southbound Amtrak Pacific Surfliner, which was on a run from San Luis Obispo to San Diego with 285 passengers aboard, pushed the front section of the bisected car about a mile before the engineer could halt the locomotive.

Investigators concluded that reckless driving was to blame the unusual traffic fatality, according to Bettencourt.

“You hear the saying `speed kills,”’ he said. “Well, this is the type of thing that can happen.”