Trucker dies on I-8 in East County after being impaled by steel he was hauling

EAST COUNTY — A trucker died Tuesday afternoon on Interstate 8 east of El Cajon when he applied his brakes and the steel he was hauling on a flat bed trailer crashed through his cab and impaled him, authorities said.

It happened about 2:50 p.m. on eastbound I-8 just past Dunbar Lane, according to California Highway Patrol spokesperson Officer Travis Garrow.

It was not immediately clear why the trucker hit the brakes on the 2014 Peterbilt semi, Garrow said. But when he did, the load he was hauling — steel sheet piling, which are long, beam-like pieces of angled metal used to build retaining walls — shifted forward, slamming through the truck’s single cab.

The steel was improperly secured on the trailer, Garrow said in a news release.

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/public-safety/story/2022-01-04/trucker-killed-on-i-8-in-east-county-when-steel-from-his-trailer-crashes-through-cab

What a horrible way to die.