Saturday, April 30, 2016 A hunt was initiated for a hit-and-run trucker of a semi-truck suspected to have fled after a fatal crash in Vernon, CA, o
Saturday, April 30, 2016
A hunt was initiated for a hit-and-run trucker of a semi-truck suspected to have fled after a fatal crash in Vernon, CA, on Saturday.
The accident happened near Santa Fe Avenue and 37th Street at around 3:10 a.m. According to Vernon Police, authorities responded to the scene.
The trucker of the 18-wheeler had been associated with a minor accident at 37th streets and neighboring Soto. This was before he passes through an intersection having a red traffic light without stopping and crashed into a pickup truck according to investigators. The pickup truck was found stuck beneath the big rig’s trailer.
According to the authorities, the driver of the big rig dragged the heavy truck for some feet before he stopped and jumped out of his rig and unhooked the truck from his trailer and fled the scene.
Authorities believed that Guillermo Ortiz Jr., a person of interest, had knowledge of the collision and wanted to interrogate him.
Trapped in the truck were two men. Firefighters arrived at the scene and used alligator wrench to extract the motorist of the vehicle underneath the trailer. The driver was rushed to USC Medical Center in a steady state, and police said he would be OK. The rider of the pickup was declared lifeless at the place of collision.
Some eyewitnesses were talking with the police. Authorities were also searching for a monitoring recording which could have recorded the violent scene or the driver.