Trucker killed in Sandia Creek Drive crash

DE LUZ (CNS) - A trucker was killed today when the flatbed he was driving veered off a winding road in De Luz and plunged about 50 feet down a steep embankment. The fatal crash on Sandia Creek Drive about a mile south of the Riverside County line was reported shortly before 1 p.m., according to the California Highway Patrol. Emergency crews arrived to find the truck upside down in a brushy ravine, surrounded by wooden posts it had been hauling, CHP public-affairs Officer Mark Latulippe said. The unidentified driver was pronounced dead at the scene. A tow truck was called in to pull the victim and the flatbed out of the gorge, a process that was expected to continue into the late afternoon, according to Latulippe. It was unclear why the trucker lost control of the vehicle, which