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E-mail StoryTwo die, one a correctional officer, after truck falls onto Highway 58
| Monday, May 19 2008 8:12 AM
Last Updated: Wednesday, May 21 2008 8:56 AM
Two men were killed Monday morning when their pickup went out of control and ended up plummeting onto Highway 58 west of Mount Vernon Avenue, the California Highway Patrol reported.
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Bakersfield police officers view the wreckage of a truck that flew off the South Washington Street overpass, landing in the westbound lanes of Highway 58 where it was hit by a semi-truck. Both men in the truck died at the scene.
Bakersfield police officers use a sheet to shield the removal of one of two men killed when their truck flew off the South Washington Street overpass.
Authorities use sheets to shield the removal of two men killed when the pick-up truck they were in went off the South Washington Street overpass, landing in the westbound lanes of Highway 58, where they were then struck by a semi-truck.
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Roman Antonio Cordero, 36, was driving with passenger Jose Raymond Garcia, 27. Both, from Bakersfield, died at the scene of the wreck. Cordero was a correctional officer at California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi for at least 10 years, said Brad Goodell, his roommate and high school friend.
Cordero and Garcia had been traveling south on Washington Street in a Toyota Tundra around 7:45 a.m. when they lost control. The pickup plowed through a “signal ahead” sign, a guard rail and a fence before nosediving down the freeway embankment.
The truck struck the side of a big rig mid-air and was dragged down the freeway, to the other side of the overpass, said highway patrol officer Greg Williams.
The driver of the semi, Bobby Smith, 53 of Bakersfield, was not hurt, Williams said.
Cordero usually leaves to work in Tehachapi at 5:15 a.m. on weekdays and never car pooled, his friend Goodell said.
He was born and raised in Bakersfield, graduating from South High School. His “pride and joy” were his two dogs, a Boston terrier and a mix, who he would take everywhere, Goodell said.
Cordero was the life of a party, who was always willing to entertain, he said.
The crash initially closed the westbound Highway 58 near Mount Vernon Avenue. Washington Street at the overpass was also closed. All freeway lanes were open shortly after 11 a.m.
Bakersfield police are investigating the cause of the accident. The coroner’s office is conducting toxicology tests on the two, which will determine if drugs or alcohol were in their systems at the time of the crash. Results won’t be ready for six to eight weeks, officials said.