Union City Man Identified In Palo Alto Fatal Crash: Coroner

PALO ALTO, CA — A box truck driver killed in a crash on southbound U.S. Highway 101 in Palo Alto on Sunday morning has been identified as 47-year-old Joeffrey Catahan of Union City, according to the Santa Clara County medical examiner's office.

The crash was reported at 4:30 a.m. on the highway south of Embarcadero Road. Catahan was driving the box truck when he struck a Palo Alto fire engine that had responded to a car crash that happened about an hour earlier.

The box truck was carrying baked goods and struck the engine on its left rear side. The 30,000-pound engine spun out upon impact, according to the California Highway Patrol. There were no fire personnel in the engine at the time of the crash.

Catahan was taken to Stanford Medical Center, where he died shortly afterward. His loved ones in the Philippines expressed their grief on social media, and he was remembered on an alumni page for Hagonoy Institute in Bulacan, Phillipines.

Lanes were closed for several hours after the crash while crews cleaned up about 100 gallons of spilled diesel fuel. The highway reopened shortly after noon Sunday.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation and neither drugs nor alcohol appear to be involved, according to CHP Officer Art Montiel.

There were no fire personnel in the fire truck at the time of the crash.

—Bay City News