LOCAL : Sleeper Crushed in Santa Ana
A transient sleeping in a cardboard box behind a Santa Ana grocery store was crushed to death this morning by a delivery truck that was backing up to the rear of the store, police said.
The man, whose identity was not immediately known, appeared to have died instantly in the 6 a.m. accident, Santa Ana police spokeswoman Maureen Thomas said.
His body was not found until 8:15 a.m. by employees of the Santa Ana Food Market in the 1200 block of West First Street, Thomas said.
Thomas said that sometime in the evening, the man grabbed a large cardboard box to sleep in and crawled under the loading dock for the night.
About 6 a.m., the driver of an 18-wheel truck arrived at the market to deliver goods. He backed up the truck, crushing the man. The truck driver was not cited.
“It was an accident,” Thomas said, adding that investigators were trying to identify the victim.
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