Golden State Freeway Tragedies Investigated : Truck: Why pipes fell off the trailer still isn’t known. Victim was from Santa Clarita area.

Charles Fedorko left work a little early Tuesday afternoon to get home to his teen-age son, who he had been raising on his own for the last two years.

Through no fault of his own, Fedorko’s anxiousness to get home cost him his life.

Fedorko, 46, was traveling north on the Golden State Freeway near its intersection with the Foothill and Antelope Valley freeways at about 4:15 p.m. At the exact moment he drove under an entrance ramp, a load of 30-foot iron pipes, each weighing about a ton, fell from a big-rig truck on the ramp, according to police.

One of the pipes sheared off the roof of his 1992 Oldsmobile Bravada and killed him instantly.

On Wednesday, California Highway Patrol officers identified Fedorko as the only person killed by the falling pipes. Two other motorists sustained minor injuries.

The reason that the pipes, bound to a flatbed trailer by nylon straps, came loose is still under investigation, said Officer Wendy Moore of the California Highway Patrol.

CHP officials said a truck driver is normally responsible for securing his load, but they have not yet determined if charges will be sought against the big-rig driver, Harold Haines, 56, of Aumsville, Ore.

Haines was driving for Westran Inc., a trucking company with offices in Vancouver, Wash., according to records filed with the Washington state corporation division. The company is headquartered in Clackamas, Ore., said Marilyn Meehan, a spokeswoman with the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission.

Westran officials, reached in Vancouver, declined comment.

Fedorko lived in the Stevenson Ranch area, just west of the Santa Clarita city limits, with his 14-year-old son, David. He was vice president and general manager for the western region of Keystone Communications, a Salt Lake City-based company that provides satellite uplinks for television broadcasters. The local office is on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.

Fedorko had formerly been a radio broadcaster, according to a statement released by Keystone, before moving on to television positions. He had worked as a satellite system engineer for NBC and a satellite operations manager for Hughes Communications.

“He was a very elegant, successful man,” said Priscilla Wright, who used to baby-sit David Fedorko while his father was traveling for business.

Fedorko loved airplanes, according to friends, and he collected gauges and other aviation equipment.

“The officer at the scene said he at first thought he was a pilot because of all the equipment in his car,” said Rob Schwenker, a classmate of Fedorko’s son.

David Fedorko is staying with a friend in Canyon Country, said next-door neighbor Bernadine Monk. David’s mother is due to arrive from Florida today.

Both father and son were described by those who knew them as private, but friendly.

“I don’t know a whole lot about his private life, but he was always very nice, very polite,” Monk said of Fedorko.

Fedorko is survived by two other children, his son, Charles, and daughter, Melissa. Both are grown and live outside of the Santa Clarita Valley.

Schwenker said David became worried when his father didn’t arrive home at 5 p.m. as expected. The teen-ager tried to phone and page his father, then joined Schwenker in a game of street hockey “to take his mind off of it,” Schwenker said.

CHP officers arrived that evening to look for family members and friends. They delivered the news that Fedorko had been killed.

“I was with (David) all last night,” Schwenker said. “He was pretty crushed.”

Funeral services are pending.

Times staff writer Chip Johnson contributed to this story.