Debris Kicked Up by Truck Blamed for Death on Freeway

An object that killed a Harbor Freeway motorist earlier this week and raised suspicions that the man had been murdered by a missile tossed from an overpass in fact was a piece of debris kicked up by a truck’s tires, authorities said Thursday.

“It was just a freak accident,” Los Angeles Police Detective Erin Browne said of the incident that killed 34-year-old John A. Raff as he traveled past the Harbor Freeway’s 23rd Street overpass early Tuesday afternoon.

Raff, a Los Angeles resident and self-employed glass architect, was southbound in his van when a truck traveling in front of him apparently kicked up the metal base of a street sign lying in the roadway, propelling the object through Raff’s windshield, Browne said.

Homicide investigators initially were assigned to the case because it was unclear whether the object that killed Raff had been thrown from the overpass or hurled up from the roadway.

However, Browne said, “we found pieces of what resembled a metal disk that is the base of (a) stop sign . . . along the freeway” and determined that it was responsible for the accident. Officials said that calls from witnesses also helped in the investigation.

Raff, whose van came to rest against a freeway center divider just south of Adams Boulevard, died at the scene.

An autopsy, completed Thursday afternoon, concluded that he had died of cranial cerebral trauma, according to Bob Dambacher, spokesman for the Los Angeles County coroner’s office.

Caltrans spokeswoman Margie Tiritilli would not comment on the incident, but said that the state agency in charge of California’s highway system makes a concerted effort to keep roadways clear of debris.

“It’s part of our maintenance program,” said Tiritilli, explaining that agency employees regularly patrol the freeways, as well as respond to calls from motorists and California Highway Patrol officers who have spotted potentially hazardous objects on the roadway.

“It’s an ongoing, constant thing,” she said.