Toyota Tacoma collided with big rig; two injured
The San Benito County Sheriff’s Office has identified the
Atascadero man killed in Tuesday’s head-on wreck on Highway
156.
The 56-year-old man killed in the accident was John Walter
Thompson, said Lt. Roy Iler with the sheriff’s office, which acts
as the county coroner. Iler noted how the office had notified next
of kin so it was OK to release the name.
Toyota Tacoma collided with big rig; two injured
The San Benito County Sheriff’s Office has identified the Atascadero man killed in Tuesday’s head-on wreck on Highway 156.
The 56-year-old man killed in the accident was John Walter Thompson, said Lt. Roy Iler with the sheriff’s office, which acts as the county coroner. Iler noted how the office had notified next of kin so it was OK to release the name.
    The head-on accident involving a big rig and pickup truck around 2:45 p.m. Tuesday on Hwy. 156 between Flint and Bixby roads left the one man dead and two needing medical attention.
    The Atascadero man died when a maroon Toyota Tacoma pickup truck was eastbound on Highway 156 and collided with a big rig driving west toward the San Juan Bautista area, said Officer Jaime Rios, spokesman for the California Highway Patrol.
    The CHP also released information on the others involved. The passenger in the pickup was Ryan Thompson, 20, of Atascadero. The big rig driver was Kenneth Yates, 39, of Salem, Mo., according to the CHP.
    Witnesses reported the pickup truck had been driving on the wrong side of the road when it hit the semi-truck, Rios said. As authorities arrived, the two vehicles had been separated by about 100 feet.
    The pickup truck’s driver died before authorities arrived to the scene and its passenger, Ryan Thompson, was transported to a local hospital by Calstar with what appeared to be non-life-threatening injuries.
    “It doesn’t look like (life threatening),” Rios said at the scene. “It looks like he might have a broken leg.”
    The big rig’s driver, Yates, was treated at the scene with apparently non-serious injuries. He was transported to Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital with complaints of chest pains, according to the CHP.
    The spokesman noted how authorities initially had examined the area for identification of the driver but could not find it, as those items may have been among the scattered debris.
    The pickup driver’s side and front-left corner were smashed into the driver, whose body remained in the vehicle while authorities responded to the others.
As of 5:45 p.m., traffic was still being routed along Freitas Road.
    Authorities had to remove the victim’s body and also had to tend to leaking diesel fuel coming from the big rig.
    Along with the CHP and Calstar, others responding were the San Benito County Sheriff’s Office, Calfire and the San Benito County Fire Department. American Medical Response ambulance service helped as well.
