AGOURA : Laborer Who Died at Landfill Is Identified

A laborer who died after he was struck by a vehicle at the Calabasas Landfill was identified Tuesday as Jose Luevano, 23, of Sun Valley.

Luevano, whose name had been withheld pending notification of relatives, walked into the path of a tire-loading tractor at about 9:30 a.m. Monday, authorities said. The vehicle knocked him down and ran into him, authorities said.

He was airlifted to Westlake Medical Center, where he died about 10 a.m., said Lt. Mike Ford of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Lost Hills Station. Luevano, he said, suffered massive injuries to his chest, abdomen and legs.

An autopsy is planned, said Scott Carrier, a spokesman for county coroner’s office. “We always do autopsies when it involves anything other than natural causes,” he said.

Luevano had worked as a laborer on and off since last September for Hayden Bros. Engineering Contractors Inc. of Sun Valley, said Ken Hayden, one of the company’s owners. The company, Hayden said, subcontracts the recycling of earthquake debris for the Los Angeles County Sanitation District.

“It’s really taken us back,” Hayden said. “We’ve been around since 1960 and we’ve never had a death before.”

Hayden said the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles is shipping the body back to Aguascalientes, Mexico, at the request of Luevano’s parents, who live there.

The driver of the vehicle feels terrible about the death, even though it was not his fault, said Hayden.

“He is in bad shape,” Hayden said. “He is not working today.”