A man was killed when a metal pipe came crashing through his windshield as he drove on Interstate Highway 580 in the Livermore area this morning.
The incident was reported west of Grant Line Road at 8:11 a.m.
The 33-year-old man was driving west on the highway when the metal pipe flew through the windshield of his 2003 white Volvo XC70 and impaled him, CHP Officer Tyler Hahn said.
The Volvo veered left in and ended on the side of the road. The CHP arrived to find the driver deceased inside the vehicle and the engine still running. The vehicle had damage to the lower right section of the windshield where the metal pierced through the glass.
The first cars to 911 reported a car parked in the center divider that might be in distress.
Investigators said it is possible that the pipe came off a truck, or it may have been lying in the road and was somehow kicked up. They said if it is determined that the pipe came from another vehicle, that driver could face charges regarding not properly securing their cargo.
Hahn described the pipe as about 2 feet long. He said it is not clear where it came from.
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"No witnesses saw it bouncing down the road, nobody's called in to say that they lost anything of this sort," he said.
Hahn said it appears to be a type of pipe used to help secure loads on large trucks.
The victim's name has not been released but he was from the Rocklin area near Sacramento.
Hahn called the case "completely a freak accident" and said it "literally is being in the wrong place at the wrong time."
No one else was in the Volvo at the time, and no other injuries were reported.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the CHP at (925) 828-0466 and ask for Hahn or Officer Azevedo.
