2nd Fatality Identified in Trucks’ Crash
Coroner’s investigators Tuesday announced the name of the second driver killed in a head-on collision of two trucks Monday afternoon on Santiago Canyon Road north of Live Oak Canyon Road near El Toro.
Ruis Luis Gonzalez, 24, of Orange, a Mexican national, was killed after the hood of his truck flipped up, blocking his view through the windshield, a coroner’s spokesman said. His truck collided with another driven by Michael Lee Specht, 35, of Riverside, who was also killed.
Passenger Was Lookout
California Highway Patrol Officer Ken Daily said that when the hood of Gonzalez’s GMC truck flew open on the curving highway, he kept driving and had his passenger, Antonio Rocha, 23, also of Orange, lean out the window as a lookout. Near Modjeska Grade Road, Daily said, the truck drifted across the center line and slammed head-on into Specht’s truck.
Specht and Gonzalez were dead at the scene. Rocha was treated for minor facial cuts at Saddleback Community Hospital and released, Daily said.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
