The San Diego County Medical Examiner's office has identified the man killed in a collision with a garbage truck in Escondido early Thursday morning.
According to a report released by the medical examiner, Ronald Cooper Jr., 56, was the victim of the fatal crash involving his Ford F-150 pickup truck and an EDCO garbage collection truck.
The incident happened just before 6 a.m. where Centre City Parkway meets Ivy Dell Lane, east of Interstate 15.
California Highway Patrol officials said the EDCO truck could not avoid the pickup truck after the pickup's driver ran a stop sign.
The trash truck broadsided the F-150 on the driver’s side, killing the driver instantly, officers said. Cooper was pronounced dead at the scene.
The EDCO driver, described as a 43-year-old man from Valley Center, was not injured. The driver told CHP he was just beginning his route when the crash occurred.
NBC 7 spoke with the victim’s employer, who actually recognized his employee’s truck on the way to work. He said the man was a machinist at the Flying J and lived less than a mile from the accident site in Escondido.
The employer described Cooper was “a stand-up guy” who “would do anything for anybody.”
The crash blocked southbound lanes of Centre City Parkway to traffic for several hours.
