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Minivan rear-ends parked tractor-trailer in fatal crash on Highway 99 in Galt, CHP says

A Stockton man died in a crash Thursday on Highway 99 in Galt after his minivan rear-ended a tractor-trailer parked along the side of the road, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Richard Jooha Lim, 42, died in the two-vehicle crash along the northbound lanes of Highway 99 just south of Simmerhorn Road, accoridng to the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office.

About 11:50 a.m., the driver of a minivan, later identified as Lim, was reported driving over 90 mph in the far left northbound lane of Highway 99, just south of Simmerhorn Road, the CHP South Sacramento Area Office announced Friday in a news release.

The CHP said the minivan drove onto the shoulder of the road for a few hundred feet before the vehicle crashed into the back of the tractor-trailer parked on the right side of the highway.

The CHP’s online dispatch log indicated that most of the minivan was pinned under the big rig’s trailer. Excessive smoke was spotted coming out of the crash site, and the tractor-trailer driver was trying to extinguish flames with a fire extinguisher, according to the CHP.

CHP officers and firefighters arrived at the scene and determined the minivan driver was dead from injuries in the crash. The CHP said Lim was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash.

The tractor-trailer driver, a 50-year-old man from Arlington, Texas, told CHP officers he was stopped alongside the road due to a medical emergency related to ulcers. He was not injured in the crash.

The CHP said the far right northbound lane in the area was closed to traffic for about three hours as authorities worked at the scene to remove the vehicles.