Dump Truck

A 35-year-old man working on his dump truck was crushed to death Sunday afternoon when the truck's hydraulic system failed and its bed fell on him. Martin Frake of Anaheim was standing behind the truck's cab making repairs when the bed of the truck, which had been hydraulically lifted into the dump position, suddenly fell on him, Fullerton Police Sgt. Greg Mayes said. The 4:13 p.m. accident occurred at the man's business, B&R Construction at 127 W. Truslow Ave.

Preliminary results of an investigation into the fatal crash of a Metrolink train in Pacoima may be available late Monday, but the chief investigator expressed concern Friday that the powerful collision may have destroyed valuable clues about its cause.

A Metrolink train carrying about 80 passengers derailed Wednesday morning after striking a Los Angeles street maintenance truck at an unguarded crossing in Pacoima, killing the truck driver and slightly injuring 12 rail passengers. The 6:50 a.m. accident was the first for the new commuter train service, which began Oct. 26.

With its flat tire, shattered windshield and corroded chassis, the dump truck didn't look capable of carting a pebble out of the parking lot. But Alexander Migunov was counting on it to carry him smack into the middle of Russia's chaotic market economy. The mud-splattered truck was one of 60 state-owned vehicles sold to entrepreneurs in this Volga River city Saturday in a bold effort to break the government's stranglehold on cargo transport.

A switch that someone apparently tampered with diverted an Amtrak train carrying 187 people onto a siding and caused the train to derail, injuring 74 people, federal investigators said Thursday. Four people were hospitalized, including the engineer who was at the controls when Amtrak's Colonial jumped the track Wednesday night.

One day after a trailer carrying thousands of chickens crashed into a steep ravine between Fillmore and Moorpark, Humane Society volunteers worked into the night Tuesday to rescue the surviving birds from their crushed wire cages. About 4,000 chickens plunged into the ravine off Grimes Canyon Road about 6:30 p.m.

A dump truck smashed into a school bus Friday, killing three junior high school students and injuring 13 others, officials said. The bus wreckage was wrapped around an oak tree, and rescuers worked for several hours to remove the bodies.

A motorcyclist was killed when he fell under a three-axle dump truck on Westlake Boulevard near the Los Angeles and Ventura county line, the California Highway Patrol said Wednesday. Robert Scanlon, 19, of Thousand Oaks was southbound on Westlake Boulevard, just south of Carlisle Road, about 8 a.m. Tuesday when he took a curve too quickly and fell under the northbound truck and was run over, CHP Officer Randy Pickens said.

He comes at night in a 10-wheeler dump truck. Or maybe it's a tractor-trailer, or a semi. Not even the authorities know for sure because they've never seen him. They know him only by the signature he leaves with each clandestine visit--a dozen tons of earth, give or take a few shovelfuls. The whole thing only takes a few seconds before he clatters away into the night.

An 11-year-old boy suffered major head injuries when his bicycle darted into a Camarillo street and was struck by a car, authorities said Wednesday. The accident occurred about 3 p.m. Tuesday on West Loop Drive north of La Suen Drive. Peter Hansen was heading south when he rode out from behind a dump truck into the northbound lane, where he was struck by a car driven by Sandra Smart, 30, of Camarillo.