A San Diego Gas & Electric employee has been suspended from his job, accused of fleeing the scene of a deadly hit and run accident in El Cajon in which he allegedly struck a pedestrian while driving a work utility truck and left the man to die on the street.
According to the El Cajon Police Department, predestrian Robert Fisher, 54, was hit and killed by the SDG&E truck while crossing the 200-block of Jamacha Road Monday, just after 10 p.m. He was left lying in the middle of the street and moments later, a second, separate vehicle approached the street and accidentally ran over him again.
“This is a terrible tragedy and SDG&E is cooperating with authorities,” spokesperson Michelle Nixon told NBC 7 San Diego on Friday. “We've suspended the employee pending the outcome of the investigation."
SDG&E officials would not confirm the employee’s name, age or how long he’s been with the company, as the investigation is ongoing.
According to police, the SDG&E truck involved in the hit and run immediately fled the scene following the fatal collision. The occupants of the second car that struck Fisher after he was already down on the roadway remained on scene, called authorities and waited for police to arrive, fully cooperating with the investigation, police said.
Despite efforts to resuscitate Fisher, officials pronounced his death at the scene.
A report released earlier this week by the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s office said Fisher lived a transient lifestyle in El Cajon.
Following the accident, police immediately began searching for the hit and run driver. Authorities asked the public to be on the lookout for the suspect vehicle, described as a white 2008 to 2010 Ford F-350 to F-550 utility work truck with a decal or logo on the front door, equipped with a personnel bucket life or crane and a utility bed.
On Friday, the El Cajon Police Department confirmed that investigators had recovered the suspect vehicle in this hit and run: a white 2008 Ford 550 work truck owned by SDG&E/Sempra Energy.
Police said the driver of the SDG&E truck was not on duty at the time of the collision and that SDG&E is cooperating with the ongoing investigation.
