SISKIYOU COUNTY, Calif. — A Sacramento County man who was a sleeping passenger in a semi-truck died early Wednesday after the vehicle’s driver also fell asleep and the semi-truck went off an embankment, according to the California Highway Patrol (CHP).
According to CHP, the unnamed 72-year-old driver was going north at 12:30 a.m. on Highway 89 in Siskiyou County, near the Shasta County border, when he fell asleep at the wheel. At the time, another man was asleep in the back of the vehicle.
The Shasta County Coroner’s office identified the second man as 32-year-old Amrit Pal Singh of Rancho Cordova.
Officials at the CHP’s Mount Shasta office said the semi-truck drifted off the road and sideswiped a tree. The driver woke up and attempted to regain control of the vehicle but over-corrected, sending the cab off the embankment and into several trees.
The front of the truck was badly damaged before it came to a stop while the trailer blocked southbound and northbound lanes of the highway, according to the CHP.
Dana Guthrie is an award-winning journalist who has been featured in multiple newspapers, books and magazines across the globe. She is currently based in the Atlanta, Georgia, area.
