2 Men Die When Pickup Is Pushed Into Truck’s Path

Two men were killed Wednesday after the pickup truck they were riding in collided head-on with a semitrailer rig on state California 138 near Gorman, authorities said.

Daniel Long, 48, of Carpinteria, was driving a 1998 Ford Ranger pickup north on Three Points Road at 12:40 p.m. when he ran a stop sign at the state highway, said California Highway Patrol Officer Doug Sweeney.

Long’s truck broadsided a Toyota pickup traveling east on California 138, nine miles east of the Golden State Freeway.

The impact forced the Toyota pickup into westbound lanes, directly into the path of a semitrailer truck, he said.

“The Toyota was completely destroyed,” Sweeney said. “The driver of the Toyota and the passenger were killed on impact.”

Neither Long nor the driver of the semi, Andrew McCormick, 32, of Fortuna, was injured, authorities said.

Sweeney said the dead men appeared to be in their late 40s. Their names were not released pending notification of next of kin.

Long admitted to CHP officers that he ran the stop sign but said he was unfamiliar with the area and thought the stop sign was for drivers traveling on California 138, Sweeney said.

The crash is under investigation and Long has not been cited, he said.