Man’s Leg Severed When Truck Hits Bus Bench

SUN VALLEY —  A man driving a pickup truck crashed into a bus bench Tuesday morning, severing one man’s leg below the knee and injuring another person, a Los Angeles Fire Department official said.

Shortly before 8:40 a.m. a white Nissan pickup being driven by Hector Martinez, 33, careened off the roadway and slammed into a bus bench in the 7500 block of Lankershim Boulevard, hitting the two people before stopping at a utility pole, said Brian Humphrey, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Authorities said witnesses gave conflicting accounts. Some said Martinez was talking on a cell phone shortly before the crash, others said he picked up the phone afterward to call 911, and still others said he was simply driving too fast, Humphrey said.

The man who lost his leg, Rigoberto Casco, 37, was taken to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, where he was listed in critical condition.

The other victim, Beatrice Rodes, 28, was sitting on the bench when the truck struck her, Humphrey said. Rodes, who told investigators she was two months’ pregnant, was also taken to Providence Holy Cross, where she was listed in fair condition with fractures in her left arm and left leg.

Martinez was taken to Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank with minor injuries.

No charges have been filed, but an investigation is being conducted, Officer James Currie of the Valley Traffic Division said.