A man was killed trying to stop a runaway pickup truck barreling towards homes at the bottom of a hill unincorporated El Cajon Monday evening, Heartland Fire officials confirmed to NBC 7 San Diego.
Authorities first responded to the scene of the crash on Aurora Drive, near Highway Business 8 and Los Coches Road just after 8 p.m.
According to the California Highway Patrol (CHP), the truck engine was not operating. The two men working on the truck put it in neutral and began pushing it out of a driveway at the top of the hill.
But the truck started rolling down the steep entrance to Los Coches Mobile Home Estates and in the direction of several homes on Aurora Road.
One of the men tried to jump in the truck to stop it but could not regain control of the truck.
It slammed into a three foot drainage ditch and the impact killed the driver.
NBC 7 spoke with Candice Hedrick, who talked to the truck owner after the accident.
Local
“He said his friend was working on the car and it drug him down the hill,” Hedrick said.
The medical examiner identified the victim on Tuesday as 39-year-old David Roy Sterner.
CHP officers were still investigating the cause of the accident as of Tuesday morning.
