Irvine : Man Killed as Pickup Rear-Ends Tractor Rig

A 31-year-old Santa Ana man died Sunday after his vehicle rear-ended a slower tractor-trailer in merging traffic on the Santa Ana Freeway at Culver Drive in Irvine, the California Highway Patrol said.

Fernando Martinez Gonzalez of Santa Ana, who was alone in his pickup truck at the time of the 2:55 a.m. accident, was taken by ambulance to Western Medical Center in Santa Ana where he was later pronounced dead, a CHP spokeswoman said.

Gonzalez’s pickup rolled completely over, landing on its wheels after it struck the rear of the tractor-trailer, the spokeswoman said.

Truck driver Roy A. Grosserhope, 25, and his passenger, Glen Lanphear, 36, both of Kent, Wash., escaped injury.

Grosserhope told police he saw Gonzalez’s pickup approaching from the rear in the No. 3 lane at an unknown speed before the collision.