A light rain and slick roadway conditions were blamed for the death of a pickup truck driver at about 11:15 Wednesday morning when he spun out in his Dodge Dakota as he was entering the Highway 99 freeway from Lathrop Road.

A CHP sergeant at the scene said that the truck apparently lost control as it entered the freeway and was hit broadside by a big rig that was traveling in the right hand lane. 

Another truck driver who witnessed the crash as he was sitting near the freeway in his rig doing paper work said the pickup accelerated as it entered the flow of traffic.  He added that the driver of the cargo truck attempted to miss the pickup and moved over into the inside lane clipping a passenger car that was in the process of passing the big rig.

That car spun around and came to rest against the center divider railing.  The driver was reportedly uninjured.  The tractor of the semi jackknifed into the center divider.  Officers said the driver of the rig was shaken but uninjured.

A couple living in nearby Raymus Village said they heard the collision and ran across an open field to the scene of the crash hoping they could be of help.  They said they realized there was nothing that they could do for the motorist who was pinned in his vehicle.

The CHP confirmed that the crash caused immediate fatal injury to the driver who was estimated to be about 26 years old.

Traffic was rerouted around the scene of the collision for several hours.