Man trying to walk between trailers of moving big rig is struck, killed in Modesto
A man died after being run over as he tried to walk between the dual trailers of a moving big rig in downtown Modesto late Tuesday morning.
The collision occurred about 11:40 a.m. at the intersection of D and Ninth streets, Sgt. Lance Nicolai said. According to witnesses, the truck was moving southwest on D, making a right turn onto Ninth, and the pedestrian walked south in the crosswalk, apparently planning to step over the hitch between the two trailers.
It wasn’t even a case where the truck had stopped and then resumed, Nicolai said. Witnesses reported it was moving all the while.
“He didn’t even look like he was in a hurry,” Nicolai said, citing accounts. The man was hit by the right-hand wheels of the second trailer and was pronounced dead somewhere between being treated at the scene and arriving at the hospital.
Response to the scene was quick, the sergeant said. Police hadn’t even been dispatched when an officer driving near the scene was flagged down by someone who said a man was down in the roadway.
Then at least one 911 call came in from a witness who said the truck driver didn’t stop, but rather continued onto Highway 99. A witness followed the truck and reported its location to police, who were able to pull it over.
The driver, who did not know he’d hit a pedestrian, brought the truck back to a nearby parking lot at E and 11th streets. There, police interviewed him and gathered evidence from the vehicle.
“It’s a weird, weird case ... really sad,” the sergeant said. The pedestrian has been identified, but his name was withheld pending notification of family. His age was not immediately available.
The crash scene, right across D Street from The Salvation Army’s Berberian shelter, is among the most common locations of pedestrian and bicycle collisions, Nicolai said.
“We’ve been stepping up our pedestrian enforcement and education,” Nicolai said at the scene. “We’ve added patrols specific to pedestrians and bicyclists because we had so many of those collisions last year, and in most of them, the pedestrians were at fault or the bicyclists were at fault.”
In 2019 in Modesto, three pedestrians and three bicyclists were killed in traffic collisions. MPD spokeswoman Sharon Bear said. Including Tuesday’s crash, there have been three pedestrian deaths this year, and no bicyclist deaths.
“It doesn’t matter whether you’re at fault when you get run over by a car,” Nicolai added. “You’re going to be the loser.”
At the transit center at Ninth and I streets, it’s common for the homeless to cross streets without heed to traffic, or to cross intersections while the light is red, he said. “We sit out there a lot, and here, and on McHenry — places where we already have a lot of collisions” and violations.
Part of a grant the Police Department got from the Office of Traffic Safety is for pedestrian and cyclist education and enforcement, Nicolai said, so officers go out on overtime to do things like hand out reflective vests and armbands.
This story was originally published March 24, 2020 at 2:18 PM.
