Flatbed Truck

The pilot of a homemade plane trying to make an emergency landing on a highway landed instead on a flatbed truck. Howard Aaron Hamer, 63, had just taken off from the airport in the high desert town of Chiloquin on Thursday when his single-engine plane lost power, state police said. He decided to attempt an emergency landing northbound on U.S. Highway 97. At the same time, the truck driver--also traveling north--pulled under Hamer's plane without realizing it.

One man was killed and another was clinging to life Thursday after their Ferrari jumped a center median on Pacific Coast Highway in Newport Beach and crashed into a flatbed truck traveling in the opposite direction. The accident occurred about 5:15 p.m., resulting in the closure of Pacific Coast Highway between Bayshore Drive and Jamboree Road, said Sgt. Jerry Lowe of the Newport Beach Police Department. The highway was blocked for hours. Investigators were trying to determine what caused the Ferrari to spin out and cross the center divider, which in that section of the highway is either a raised curb or a median strip, said Sgt. Evan Sailor, public information officer for the Newport Beach police.

Iron pipes 30 feet long and weighing up to a ton each rained down on the Golden State Freeway from an overhead transition ramp Tuesday afternoon, and one of them chopped a car almost in half, crushing the driver's head and killing him. Two people were injured in the freak accident at the point in the northeastern San Fernando Valley where the Golden State, Foothill and Antelope Valley freeways intersect. The pipes broke loose from a flatbed truck on the transition ramp from the Foothill Freeway.

Police say a Buffalo-area tow truck driver was juggling two cellphones -- texting on one and talking on another -- when he slammed into a car and crashed into a swimming pool in Lockport, N.Y. Niagara County sheriff's deputies say Nicholas Sparks, 25, of Burt admitted he was texting and talking when his flatbed truck hit a car Wednesday morning. The truck then crashed through a fence and sideswiped a house before rolling into the pool. The car's driver was hospitalized and in good condition.

One man was killed and another was clinging to life Thursday after their Ferrari jumped a center median on Pacific Coast Highway in Newport Beach and crashed into a flatbed truck traveling in the opposite direction. The accident occurred about 5:15 p.m., resulting in the closure of Pacific Coast Highway between Bayshore Drive and Jamboree Road, said Sgt. Jerry Lowe of the Newport Beach Police Department. The highway was blocked for hours. Investigators were trying to determine what caused the Ferrari to spin out and cross the center divider, which in that section of the highway is either a raised curb or a median strip, said Sgt. Evan Sailor, public information officer for the Newport Beach police.

A man who was killed when the flatbed truck he was driving struck another vehicle and burst into flames on a freeway off-ramp was identified Thursday as Michael David Jones, 39, of Lancaster, authorities said. The cause of the crash, which occurred about 6 p.m. Wednesday on the Moorpark Road exit of the Ventura Freeway in Thousand Oaks, is still under investigation, California Highway Patrol Officer Brian DeMattia said. Jones' passenger, Paul Harris, 20, of Lancaster, remained in critical condition Thursday at Sherman Oaks Community Hospital with severe burns.

Two van passengers died in a collision that closed the northbound Costa Mesa Freeway early Friday for five hours, authorities said. Neither of the victims was immediately identified pending notification of relatives. The pair were riding in the van about 6:15 a.m. when it was hit by a three-axle flatbed truck south of the Santa Ana Freeway interchange. The cause of the accident is under investigation, authorities said.

A 23-year-old Tujunga man died Friday when the car he was driving slammed into the rear of a parked flatbed truck, Los Angeles police said. Bruce Knollenberg of Tujunga was traveling east on Foothill Boulevard shortly before 11 a.m. when his car struck the truck parked near Elmo Street in Tujunga, said Officer Robert Rowe. Knollenberg was alone in his vehicle.

Two wide utility trucks collided and overturned Tuesday, seriously injuring one driver and releasing potentially hazardous fuels. A driver in a moving truck was traveling west on Orangewood Avenue at around 11 a.m. when a flatbed truck, going east on Orangewood, turned left to Markon Avenue. The moving truck broadsided the flatbed on the right side, crushing the passenger compartment where a 28-year-old man was sitting, Garden Grove police officials said.

A Jamul man was killed early Thursday when he lost control of his car on a winding stretch of California 94 and was broadsided by an oncoming truck, the California Highway Patrol reported. Jose Quintanilla, 46, was entering a curve on Highway 94 just east of Star Acres Road about 3:45 a.m. when he lost control of his car, spun in the road, and was struck by a westbound flatbed truck, a CHP spokeswoman said. Quintanilla was dead at the scene.

The world's heaviest man tied the knot in Monterrey, Mexico. Manuel Uribe, who hasn't left his bed in six years, married Claudia Solis in front of more than 400 guests. A flatbed truck towed the bed decorated with a canopy, flowers and gold-trimmed bows to the wedding. He wore a white silk shirt with a sheet wrapped around his legs. Solis wore a strapless ivory dress and a tiara. Uribe tipped the scales in 2006 at 1,230 pounds. He has since shed about 550 of them.

Two van passengers died in a collision that closed the northbound Costa Mesa Freeway early Friday for five hours, authorities said. Neither of the victims was immediately identified pending notification of relatives. The pair were riding in the van about 6:15 a.m. when it was hit by a three-axle flatbed truck south of the Santa Ana Freeway interchange. The cause of the accident is under investigation, authorities said.

A flatbed truck rolled 1,000 yards down a cemetery hill Friday morning and struck parked vehicles that in turn careened into four people, officials said. An employee at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier was working alongside the truck when it began rolling downhill, according to the California Highway Patrol. The truck struck five parked vehicles, which then hit four people. Three of the victims suffered serious injuries, and the other had moderate leg injuries.

The pilot of a homemade plane trying to make an emergency landing on a highway landed instead on a flatbed truck. Howard Aaron Hamer, 63, had just taken off from the airport in the high desert town of Chiloquin on Thursday when his single-engine plane lost power, state police said. He decided to attempt an emergency landing northbound on U.S. Highway 97. At the same time, the truck driver--also traveling north--pulled under Hamer's plane without realizing it.

The mother of a 7-year-old boy was booked on second-degree murder charges in the death of her son, who was killed Wednesday night when her car struck a parked flatbed truck in North Hollywood, police said. Lynn Julian, 30, of North Hollywood was booked at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, where she was in stable condition Thursday.

Three months after a load of concrete pipes tumbled off a flatbed truck, crashing into two vehicles and killing six people on a Mojave Desert highway, the California Highway Patrol on Thursday said it is seeking vehicular manslaughter charges against the truck driver. The three 30-foot-long pipes, each weighing about 15,000 pounds, were improperly loaded and inadequately supported by a frail wooden support beam that broke, triggering the tragedy, said CHP spokesman Todd Weichers.

Daniel William Kelly, a 20-year-old Santee man, died Monday afternoon after his motorcycle struck a truck on a ramp connecting California 67 and Interstate 8, the California Highway Patrol reported. CHP dispatcher Debbie Russell said Lloyd Savoie, 29, of La Mesa was driving a small flatbed truck pulling a trailer and had parked on the right shoulder where southbound 67 meets westbound I-8.

Police say a Buffalo-area tow truck driver was juggling two cellphones -- texting on one and talking on another -- when he slammed into a car and crashed into a swimming pool in Lockport, N.Y. Niagara County sheriff's deputies say Nicholas Sparks, 25, of Burt admitted he was texting and talking when his flatbed truck hit a car Wednesday morning. The truck then crashed through a fence and sideswiped a house before rolling into the pool. The car's driver was hospitalized and in good condition.

Six people were killed in a horrific crash in the still of the Mojave Desert early Monday when three huge concrete pipes tumbled off a flatbed truck and smashed into two oncoming vehicles. The driver of the truck was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated and other charges. "This is probably the most horrendous incident we've seen," San Bernardino County coroner's spokesman Randy Emon said from the remote desert highway. "This is a terrible scene."

A 24-year-old Saugus man died Wednesday when his Isuzu Trooper slammed into a flatbed truck parked on the shoulder of the northbound Antelope Valley Freeway truck route. The driver, Robert J. Gomez, was on his way home from Venice, where he had been working as a grip for a movie company. "There was a map leaning on his chest--it appears he may have been looking at it while driving," said Officer Michelle Esposito. "There were no skid marks or other signs of evasive action prior to the impact."