Modesto man dies in Porterville crash

A Porterville man walked away unscathed after he was hit Monday by a driver who may have been drinking.

Lawrence Billiou crawled out the window of his white Chevrolet truck that landed on its side after colliding with a Modesto man in a Pontiac who ran a stop sign at Highway 190 and Road 152. The 69-year-old North Valley man died instantly at the scene; he was stuck in his Grand Am until firefighters removed the body just before 4 p.m.

“Alcohol was involved,” Darrel Giefer, a sergeant with the California Highway Patrol said. “We found an open bottle of alcohol laying next to the Pontiac.”

At about 3:10 p.m., the man — his name is being withheld pending notification of his family — was northbound on Road 152 when he ran the stop sign, striking Billiou who was headed east on the highway.

“I saw a flash out of the side, and then I was hit,” Billiou said.

The impact forced both vehicles off the road, with the sedan landing in a grass field. Both vehicles were severely damaged.

Billiou said that luck was on his side, the same date two years ago, when he was caught in a “freak hail storm” on Highway 152 at Pacheco Pass. The storm caught multiple drivers off guard, he said and when the car he was in crossed over the median, he said he collided head on with another vehicle.

But they all walked away.

“Beware of the ides of March,” he said.

-- Contact the Recorder newsroom at 784-5000, or recorder@portervillerecorder.com.