Sacramento man dies after truck hits him on freeway in apparent road rage incident
A man was killed Thursday night in an apparent road rage incident in which he reportedly got out of his pickup on Highway 99 and tried to confront a truck driver moments before he was hit by the vehicle, the California Highway Patrol reported.
Juan Diaz Encarnacion, 47 of Sacramento died after he was struck by the vehicle on the freeway in Oak Park just north of 12th Avenue, according to the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office.
The fatal hit-and-run that led to the man’s death unfolded earlier farther north as he was driving southbound on the Capital City Freeway in a maroon 2003 Dodge Ram pickup through midtown.
A witness spotted the Dodge pickup weaving in multiple southbound lanes between Arden Way and E Street, the CHP’s South Sacramento office announced Friday in a news release.
The CHP said the Dodge pickup was then seen sideswiping a large- or medium-sized truck towing a car-hauler or trailer in the freeway’s southbound lanes just south of N Street. The witness told CHP officers that the collision at the Business 80 Loop’s transition with Highway 99 caused minor damage to the left side of the Dodge pickup, and the driver in the other vehicle might not have felt it and continued south.
The Dodge pickup driver followed the truck, and the Dodge came to a complete stop in the middle of the second lane from the left in front of the other vehicle after crossing over Highway 50, the CHP said. The witness told CHP officers that the Dodge driver, later identified as Encarnacion, got out of his pickup and tried to confront the other driver.
The witness then saw the truck driver rapidly accelerate the vehicle to go around the Dodge pickup, and the truck then knocked Encarnacion to the ground and ran over him with the truck’s rear trailer tires, according to the CHP.
The CHP said the witness was unable to get a license plate number as he pulled over his vehicle to help the injured man on the highway. Encarnacion was conscious and alert at the scene as medics took him to a hospital.
The Sacramento County Coroner’s Office later notified the CHP that Encarnacion died from his injuries Thursday night during surgery at the hospital.
Investigators asked the driver of the truck car-hauler to come forward and provide a statement or anyone who also witnessed the incident to call CHP officers at 916-897-5600.
This story was originally published October 20, 2023 at 3:30 PM.
