 | Porterville | West Teapot Dome Avenue at Road 248., Porterville CA 93257 |
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UPDATED: Crash victim airlifted to Fresno
Porterville man airlifted to Fresno following crash with big rig
A Porterville man has been airlifted to Valley Medical Center in Fresno following a collision with a semi truck.
Juan Ramon Arellano Jr. was driving a 1987 Nissan 4X4 pickup truck north on Road 248 Tuesday afternoon when he failed to stop at a stop sign and was broad sided by a semi-truck traveling east on Tea Pot Dome Avenue.
“He blew that stop sign. I had no time to react. He jumped out and I had no choice but to hit him. My reaction time was zero,” Steve Luna said. “It’s a good thing I was empty. Had I been loaded, I would have carried 80,000 pounds. That would have been a totally different ball game.”
Luna said he estimates he was driving approximately 50 to 55 miles per hour when he hit Arellano, pushing him approximately 100 yards before finally coming to a stop on the south side shoulder of Tea Pot Dome Avenue.
Luna, who has been working for Terry Johnson Trucking Inc. of Coalinga — but out of the Fountain Springs yard — said he would normal be carrying rock basin.
As Arellano was being prepared to be taken to the airport, his fiance’ Marty Bernal arrived at the scene.
“He’s so lucky he’s alive,” Bernal said as she surveyed the damage. “I was just getting off work when a friend called me to tell me about the accident. [Arellano] was calling for me and reaching [arms] out for me but they wouldn’t let me near him. As they strapped him in, I ran to the car to get a camera and when I got back, they were already taking him to the helicopter. They wouldn’t let me go in the ambulance.”
Friend Jose Gonzalez of Terra Bella said Arellano had purchased the vehicle from Jose Aldaco of Terra Bella less than 30 minutes prior to the accident.
“I had just taken him to pick it up. I had a little problem with my car, it wouldn’t start right away, so he took off. I was maybe five minutes behind him,” Gonzalez said. “Then I get here, and see this.”
According to Officer Jeremiah Johnson of the California Highway Patrol, it appeared Arellano was at fault.
“It looks like party no. 1, the pickup truck, is at fault. He was heading northbound at a high rate of 78 miles per hour when he failed to stop at the sign,” Johnson said. “The big rig hit him at about 50 to 55. [Arellano] was airlifted to VMC in Fresno.”
Contact Esther Avila at 784-5000, Ext. 1045, or eavila@portervillerecorder.com.
