North Hills Man, 50, Dies After Being Hit by Truck at Job Site

A 50-year-old North Hills man was struck by a pickup and killed Wednesday as he worked on an excavation project, authorities said.

Jesus Reyes Jr., an employee of Northwest Excavating Co. in Northridge, a subcontractor of Pacific Bell, was working at the northwest corner of Lake Lindero Drive at Thousand Oaks Boulevard when he was hit by a 1993 Ford pickup truck about 9:05 a.m., Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sgt. Phil Morris said.

Reyes was airlifted to UCLA Medical Center where he was pronounced dead shortly before noon.

Reyes was working on a ditch-digging project for Pacific Bell, in an area of the intersection cordoned off with cones. Precisely what he was doing at the time of the accident was unclear, Morris said.

Just before Reyes was hit, the driver of a station wagon northbound on Lake Lindero Drive ran a red light at Thousand Oaks Boulevard and struck the pickup truck, Morris said. Both vehicles were traveling about 25 mph.

The truck spun and hit Reyes, who was thrown about 70 feet and landed head-first among boulders that adorn the entrance to the Lake Lindero Country Club, Morris said. Reyes suffered massive head injuries, he said.

Neither the driver of the station wagon, Blane Carney, 85, of Agoura Hills, nor the driver of the truck, Gerald Katzoff, 55, of Newbury Park, were injured.

Carney was not cited and was released pending an investigation, Morris said.

A man who answered the telephone at Northwest Excavating Co. declined to comment.