The San Diego County Medical Examiner Monday released the name of a tow truck driver who was killed when he and another tow truck driver were struck by a pickup truck while helping a motorist with a flat tire on State Route 78 in San Marcos.
He was 48-year-old El Cajon resident Jabar Issa, the Medical Examiner said.
The two tow truck drivers were summoned to assist the 43-year-old driver of a white Nissan Frontier with a flat tire on the eastbound freeway near Nordahl Road shortly after 7 a.m. Saturday, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Both men were outside their trucks as the 52-year-old driver of an eastbound 2003 Ford F-250, was “in the number 4 lane, at an unknown rate rate of speed,” said CHP Officer Gil Ochoa.
“For unknown reasons, the driver in the F-250 allowed his vehicle to tun in a southeasterly direction over the solid white line, and onto the right shoulder,” he said, adding that he struck one of the tow trucks, then Issa, the Nissan, the second tow truck driver, then the second truck.
Issa was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics, the Medical Examiner said.
The other tow truck driver, who is 42, was transported to a hospital for treatment of a broken leg and other fractures and “massive internal injuries,” according to Ochoa. The Nissan’s driver, who was inside his pickup truck as it was struck, suffered cuts and abrasions to his upper torso.
The Ford’s driver was not injured, the officer said.
The collision investigation was ongoing, Ochoa said.
—City News Service
