A man from Johnsonville died this week after being struck by a trailer in Bakersfield, California, local authorities say.
According to a press release from Sgt. Ryan Kroeker with Bakersfield Police Department, officers were called to a four car collision Wednesday afternoon. Investigators say a pickup truck pulling a utility trailer was approaching an intersection when the trailer became disconnected from the pickup and hit two pedestrians who were standing on the sidewalk.
One man was pronounced dead on the scene and the second was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, police confirm.
CBS affiliate KBAK -TV confirms the Kern County Coroner’s Office identified the deceased as 32-year-old Michael Franklin Evans of Johnsonville.
After the two pedestrians were hit, the trailer hit a vehicle at the intersection and the force of impact pushed that vehicle into two more cars stopped at the intersection. The press release says police don’t believe drugs, alcohol or speed were a factor in the crash, but police say there were no safety chains securing the trailer to the pickup and the trailer was also not safely loaded.
A Go-Fund-Me set up in Evans’ honor explains he was in California “to further his worship experience” at a church in Redding. The page also says Evans served on the worship team as a keyboard player and as a youth leader at Crossover Church in Johnsonville.
