Update: Vehicle VS Pedestrian

Sonora, CA – A pedestrian that was hit last week by a truck has died, and the Sonora Police Department has ruled the incident a suicide. Investigators determined that last Tuesday, around 4:08 p.m. on Stockton Road near Mill Villa Court, the man intentionally jumped into oncoming traffic. 

The PD reports 67-year-old Linda Smith of Modesto was driving a 2006 Ford pick-up westbound on Stockton Road, when the man intentionally jumped in front of Smith’s truck. The man was three feet into the traffic lane when he was struck by the right front of Smith’s truck. The PD says several witnesses confirmed that Smith could not have avoided hitting the man, as he jumped in front of her truck.

The collision threw the man into an embankment, where he suffered major injuries as the result of the impact with the vehicle, pavement, and vegetation. The man was air lifted to a Modesto hospital, but later succumbed to those injuries.

Because it was a suicide attempt, the Police Department is not releasing the man’s name. Click here for a map of the crash site.