Man Killed When His Car Rolls Onto Him

A 61-year-old Oxnard man was killed Monday afternoon after his car apparently rolled onto him while he was working on it, according to the Ventura County coroner’s office.

Salvador Cortez was found about 5 p.m. under his late model Plymouth station wagon, which was parked at a vacant lot on the 200 block of McKinley Avenue, Deputy Coroner Jim Wingate said.

“He was dead at the scene,” Wingate said.

A group of children playing nearby told firefighters they remembered seeing the car roll off two small metal ramps at about 2 p.m., said Oxnard Fire Department Capt. Lewis Beltram of Station House 5, which responded to the scene.

“There was no evidence that he struggled,” Beltram said. “It appeared from the way the vehicle landed [on him] that it would have been quick.”

Although there were children in the area, no one reported anything until 5 p.m., he said.

“From what these kids said, he was out there under cars all the time,” Beltram said. “From the street it wouldn’t be immediately apparent that there was anything wrong.”