Gas tanker truck and SUV collide, one person killed near Two Rock

A Sonoma man died Tuesday morning after he collided with a fuel truck near Two Rock northeast of Petaluma, authorities said.

The crash was reported to CHP officers at 6:20 a.m. at the intersection of Bodega Avenue and Pepper Road, the agency said in a news release Tuesday.

Officers suspect the victim, 75, who was driving a Ford Explorer truck, was stopped at a T-intersection on Pepper Road when he began turning left onto eastbound Bodega Avenue, directly in the path of the fuel tanker. It was unclear why the man in the Ford truck drove into the path of the other driver, CHP spokesman David deRutte said.

The left front side of the Ford collided with the front right side of the fuel truck, sending the Ford off the roadway and into a dirt embankment, where it overturned, CHP said.

A small fire that started as a result of the crash was quickly put out by a passing man in a garbage truck, deRutte said.

The driver of the Ford truck died from the impact of the crash. The Sonoma County Coroner’s Office will identify the man, the CHP said.

You can reach Staff Writer Nashelly Chavez at 707-521-5203 and Staff Writer Lori A. Carter at 707-521-5470.