CSUN PROFESSOR KILLED IN CRASH.

Byline: Greg Botonis Staff Writer

LANCASTER - A California State University, Northridge, professor on his way to work Tuesday was killed when he drove his compact car into the path of an oncoming big rig at a rural intersection, authorities said.

Geography professor Robert Hoffpauir, 59, of Tehachapi was crushed beneath the truck as it rolled over his 1999 Honda Accord at Avenue D and 90th Street West, officials said.

``We don't know why he pulled out in front of the diesel,'' said California Highway Patrol Officer Rusty Moore. ``We don't know if the sun was in his eyes or what. He travels that road every day.''

The crash occurred about 7:25 a.m. as the 1999 Kenworth hauling a 40- foot refrigerated trailer was traveling westbound on Avenue D at about 55 mph, the CHP said.

The Honda was stopped at the stop sign for the southbound lane of 90th Street West, but pulled out just as the big rig crossed into the intersection, officials said.

Avenue D does not have a stop at 90th Street West.

The big rig rolled over the top of the Honda, then skidded on top of it into a barren field. When the tractor's wheels hit the soft dirt, the tractor overturned, officials said.

Truck driver Debra Herndon, 32, of Nixa, Mo., and her husband, Robert Herndon, 34, who was asleep in the truck cab's sleeper berth, were not injured, authorities said.

Investigators say they initially assumed that Hoffpauir had believed mistakenly that the big rig had a stop sign. But they later learned that he commuted to work in Northridge up to six days a week along that route.

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Photo:

(color -- ran in AV edition only) The wreckage of a 1999 Honda Accord sits at the site of a crash Tuesday that killed its driver, CSUN professor Robert Hoffpauir, at Avenue D and 90th Street West outside Lancaster.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer