Emergency response crews that responded Friday night to reports of a AAA tow truck driver being hit by a big rig near Vista Del Lago reported the driver dead at the scene.
“He was deceased at the scene,” California Highway Patrol Officer Stephan Brandt said at 9:20 p.m.
CHP investigators issued a SigAlert in the area of the incident and shut down the slow lane and the lane next to it, he said.
“The issue right now is to try and find the driver of the semi — that’s the issue,” Brandt said.
Nani Cholakians, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner, confirmed that the coroner was called to the crash site: “We were notified of it,” she said.
CHP officers checked on locations at the brake stop on Interstate 5 and in Castaic without luck, advised by their dispatcher to look for front end damage.
“The (AAA) driver was outside of the pickup truck helping customers,” Brandt said, noting the customers were not hurt and were sitting inside the pickup when the driver was hit.
The crash happened shortly before 8:15 p.m. in the southbound lanes of I-5, just south of Vista Del Lago Road.
The AAA driver was reportedly hooking up a disabled vehicle when he was hit.
“Our units are still on their way,” Michael Pitman, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Fire Department said at 8:20 p.m.
661-287-5527
On Twitter
@jamesarthurholt
