BIG RIG KILLS MAN FIXING FLAT ON FREEWAY.Byline: Melissa Schmitt Daily News Staff Writer A 26-year-old Canoga Park man was killed while changing a rental-car tire on the shoulder of the eastbound east·bound adj. Going toward the east. eastbound Adjective going towards the east Adj. 1. Ronald Reagan Freeway on Tuesday when the trailer In communications, a code or set of codes that make up the last part of a transmitted message. See trailer label. of a passing truck swerved and hit him, officers said. The truck driver left the scene, leaving the Canoga Park man dead on the side of the freeway just east of the Tampa Avenue exit, said California Highway Patrol highway patrol n. A state law enforcement organization whose police officers patrol the public highways. Sgt. Steve Munday. Police were searching for the driver and the truck as part of an investigation of what happened, Munday said. Witnesses told police that the truck had a maroon maroon, term for a fugitive slave in the 17th and 18th cent. in the West Indies and Guiana, or for a descendant of such slaves. They were called marron by the French and cimarrón by the Spanish. cab with gold lettering and a long, white box-top trailer, 40 to 60 feet long. The license plate could include L85719, but witnesses could not determine what state the plate was issued in. Police did not release the victim's name, pending notification of his family. The tragic incident left even seasoned officers shaking their heads in dismay. ``One minute you're changing a tire and the next it's goodbye,'' Munday said. ``This makes the point all too real.'' Witnesses at the scene told police the driver was changing his left front tire This article has multiple issues: * It needs additional references or sources for verification. * Its notability is in question. If notability cannot be established, this article may be listed for deletion. about 11:15 a.m. Suddenly the truck, traveling in the third eastbound lane, swerved right, then left, jackknifing This article is about vehicle accidents. For the statistics procedure, see Resampling (statistics)#Jackknife. Jackknifing means the accidental of an articulated vehicle (i.e. one towing a trailer) such that it resembles the acute angle of a folding pocket knife. his trailer. Witnesses told police the truck driver did not appear to be avoiding other vehicles. The trailer then smashed into the man and his rental car, a 1998 Oldsmobile Achiva. ``It looked like he had just started to loosen the lug nut lug nut n. A heavy, rounded nut that fits over a bolt, used especially to attach an automotive vehicle's wheel to its axle. ,'' Munday said of the victim. ``He probably had all his attention on his tire. It doesn't look like he had any chance to move out of the way.'' Munday said police hadn't determined why the man was driving a rental car. He was properly pulled off the highway and fully onto the shoulder, legally out of any lane and to the right even of the fog line, police said. The man also was outside the acceleration lane painted into the shoulder after the Tampa Avenue on-ramp, Munday said. Witnesses reported that immediately following the incident, the driver slowed down and put on his turn signal as if he was pulling off to the shoulder, Munday said. One witness said he watched as the driver appeared to be stopping. That witness then reached down to call police with his cell phone, Munday said. When he looked up again, the truck driver was speeding down the freeway, before possibly exiting at Balboa Balboa, town (1990 pop. 2,751), Colón prov., in the former Panama Canal Zone, on the Gulf of Panama. The port for Panama City, Balboa was the administrative headquarters of the Panama Canal Zone. It was also the site of a U.S. navy base (closed 1999). Boulevard, he said. Many shaken
Shaken (車剣, also known as kurumaken) are a type of Shuriken witnesses asked police how to safely deal with a flat tire on the freeway, Munday said. ``Look for the safest location,'' was Munday's answer. ``Or better yet, drive off the freeway if possible. People are worried about damaging the tire or rim, but is saving a little bit of money worth more than risking a life?'' ``Freeways are built to drive on,'' he said. ``They aren't built to park on or change tires on.'' Anyone with information is asked to contact police at (213) 669-4472. CAPTION(S): photo PHOTO Traffic inches by the scene of Tuesday's death on the Ronald Reagan Freeway. Tina Gerson/Daily News |
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