Cement Truck Hits Car; Palmdale Youth Killed

A cement truck swerved to avoid a collision with a car Friday and overturned onto another auto, crushing to death a 17-year-old Palmdale youth, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reported.

Thomas Anthony Medrano was pronounced dead at the scene, Deputy Cory Kennedy said.

The driver of the car that darted into the path of the cement truck was blamed for the accident, but that driver fled, Kennedy said. Investigators have of no description of the driver or the car, he said.

The truck, driven by Howard Ruggers, of Lancaster, swerved to avoid the car about 2 p.m. on Palmdale Boulevard at 25th Street East in Palmdale. The truck skidded, hit a second car and overturned onto the Ford Pinto in which Medrano was a passenger, Kennedy said.

There were no other injuries, he said.