SAN DIEGO — A woman is dead after bags of cement fell from a truck that overturned on an Interstate 805 offramp in Clairemont Friday afternoon, according to California Highway Patrol.
The incident occurred around 1 p.m. According to CHP, a Chevrolet pick-up truck with a one-ton stake bed was traveling from the southbound side of the freeway onto the eastbound state Route 52 ramp at a stated speed of about 60 miles per hour.
As the truck continued onto the ramp, CHP said the driver felt his load, including bags of cement and other construction materials, shift in the bed and he began to lose control of the truck causing it to overturn.
When it overturned, the bags spilled onto the roadway, with several falling from the ramp onto the SR-52 eastbound lanes below. One to two bags of concrete fell directly from the road onto the windshield of a black Mercedes traveling in the No. 2 lane of the roadway, CHP said.
The bags impacted with a passenger in the vehicle, described as a woman in her 70s. She succumbed to her injuries on scene and was pronounced dead by medical personnel.
The driver of the Mercedes, who had pulled onto the right shoulder of the road after the bags fell, and the truck driver were unharmed in the incident.
Drugs and alcohol were not a factor in the collision, CHP said. However, the exact cause of the collision and sequence of events remain under investigation by the law enforcement agency.
The I-805 southbound to SR-52 eastbound transition was closed for about two hours for CHP officers to conduct an investigation, the law enforcement department said. A Sig Alert was also issued for the southbound I-805 lanes around 2:54 p.m. All closures have since been lifted.
Witnesses or anyone with information regarding the collision are asked to contact CHP Officer D. Shoemaker at 858-293-6000.