A woman soliciting handouts in the middle of a North County thoroughfare Friday morning was struck and killed by a vehicle whose driver had just given her money, authorities reported.
The motorist was stopped for a red light in an eastbound lane on West Mission Avenue at North Quince Street in Escondido about 8 a.m. when the unidentified panhandler stepped off a center median and approached his pickup truck, which was towing a trailer filled with sand and concrete, according to police.
After the driver gave her some cash, the woman tried to return to the center divider but stumbled and fell as traffic began to move again, Officer Scott Christensen said. The man’s trailer then ran over her, he said.
Medics took the victim to nearby Palomar Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.
The involved motorist was cooperative with investigators and was not cited over the accident, Christensen said.
The county Medical Examiner’s Office will seek to identify the woman and locate her next of kin.
— City News Service
