Motorist Is Killed After Being Sideswiped by Loose Semitrailer
A large truck being towed on the Golden State Freeway came loose near Gorman on Tuesday and sideswiped a pickup, knocking the smaller truck over the center divider and fatally injuring its driver, authorities said.
The pickup driver, whose identity was not made public, died after being airlifted to Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital in Santa Clarita, said California Highway Patrol Officer James Luetger.
A large truck was towing a semitrailer truck, using a regulation bar hitch specified for such work, on the southbound side of the freeway about a mile north of Gorman when the driverless rear truck came loose and slammed into the pickup, also traveling south, Luetger said.
The impact sent the pickup into the center divider, where it flipped onto the northbound side, severing the driver’s arm at the elbow, and hurtled across four lanes of oncoming traffic before coming to rest on the shoulder, he said.
Three other people in another vehicle suffered minor injuries, a Los Angeles County Fire Department dispatcher said.
The CHP did not cite the driver of the tow truck, Jose Rodriguez, 33, of Azusa, pending an investigation, Luetger said.
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