Fatal crash delays paper
Delivery driver recovering at home after Friday wreck
A truck delivering Saturday’s Union Democrat from the printing press in Marysville was involved in a fatal wreck Friday night on Highway 99 near Lodi that sent the driver to the hospital with broken bones and delayed delivery of the newspaper until Tuesday.
The accident occurred about 10:50 p.m. Friday south of Woodbridge Road when a 2002 GMC Sierra pickup driven by a 27-year-old man slammed into the back of a 2006 GMC two-axle box truck that was on its way to Sonora to deliver the following morning’s newspaper.
Todd Malone, 49, of Stockton, was driving the box truck south on Highway 99 at about 65 to 70 mph while the pickup was traveling behind it in a different lane at an undetermined speed, said California Highway Patrol Officer James Smith, of the agency’s Stockton-area office.
Smith said the pickup traveled into the same lane as the box truck and collided into the back of it, the force of which caused the drivers of both vehicles to veer left into the center median and collide with the guard rail.
Malone’s box truck rolled over the guard rail and into a northbound lane of Highway 99, while the pickup overturned into the southbound lanes.
The driver of the pickup was partially ejected from the vehicle and died from his injuries at the scene. Smith said the San Joa
quin County Coroner’s Office would release the name of the man after family was notified, but a call to the office was not immediately returned Monday.
Smith said it was not yet determined whether drugs or alcohol played a role in the crash and that it wouldn’t be known until they receive toxicology reports from the coroner’s office, which could take a couple of weeks.
Malone and a 25-year-old female passenger in the pickup were transported to San Joaquin General Hospital in French Camp for treatment of injuries.
Glenn Stifflemire, publisher of the Lodi News-sentinel in Lodi and Appeal-democrat in Marysville, said that Malone was recovering at his home on Monday after suffering a broken nose, fractured vertebrae, and injuries to his ribs.
“I’m just glad that our guy is going to be OK,” he said. “It’s too bad that something like that had to happen, but I’m glad he’s OK.”
The Union Democrat has been printed by its sister paper, the Appeal-democrat in Marysville, since earlier this year.
Both the Saturday and Tuesday editions of the newspaper are expected to be delivered on Tuesday. In the meantime, The Union Democrat unlocked the election version of the paper on its website through Monday.