Runaway Trash Truck Strikes Van; 2 Men Killed

Two men were killed and a third seriously injured Thursday when a garbage truck leaving the Toland Road Landfill lost its brakes and slammed into a van, authorities said.

The crash occurred shortly after 4 p.m. on California 126 at Toland Road, just a few feet east of the historic little red Santa Clara School.

The fatal victims were Mucio Medina, 47, and Fernin Ramirez, 28, both of Fillmore, authorities said.

“We haven’t had one like this in awhile, not since they were doing construction on the road,” California Highway Patrol Officer Dave Cockrill said.

A massive highway widening project was completed last year. Dozens of people had been injured or killed in crashes over the last decade, earning the roadway the name “Blood Alley.”

In Thursday’s crash, Ruben Magana, 21, of Oxnard had just left the landfill and was driving toward the highway when he lost control of his rig on the steep final stretch of Toland Road and careened onto the highway.

The truck crossed the westbound lanes without hitting any vehicles, but then slammed broadside into a Dodge van headed east, Cockrill said.

The impact shoved the van 30 feet off the highway, through a chain-link fence and into a row of citrus trees. The truck crushed the driver’s side of the van and crumpled it into a blue ball of metal.

The impact also caused an industrial-size dumpster on the bed of the dump truck to overturn, spilling crushed flower petals on the shoulder of the road.

A bumper and license plate torn off during the crash landed several feet from the wreckage.

The men who were killed were riding in the van. A third man in the van, possibly the driver, was trapped but freed with extraction tools. He was airlifted to Ventura County Medical Center with chest injuries.

Jon Graves, a paramedic with American Medical Response, said the survivor, 40, was conscious when rescuers arrived but seriously injured.

“If he is the driver, he’s lucky to be alive,” Graves said.

Magana, who works for Hobb’s Rubbish, was sitting on the shoulder of the road when paramedics arrived, Graves said. He suffered minor injuries and was taken by ambulance to Santa Paula Memorial Hospital.

Immediately after the crash, firefighters and police scoured the orchard to look for a possible fourth victim from the van. A tow truck also rushed to the scene to pry the dump truck off the van and search the wreckage for a body. No one was found.

Before the surviving victim from the van was moved, he told paramedics that there had been four people in the van.

The crash forced the closure of one eastbound lane, causing a mile-long traffic backup in 90-degree weather.

The Toland Road Landfill has been the site of controversy since 1996, when the quantity of trash it accepts was increased tenfold. Residents have since complained about speeding trucks and excessive traffic.