A massive tractor-trailer rig owned by Dick Simon Trucking, West Valley City, rammed the California Capitol in Sacramento Tuesday night, exploding on impact and forcing the building's evacuation.
"It is a Dick Simon truck, that's evident," Nancy Kramer, California Highway Patrol information officer, told the Deseret News Wednesday.
The driver died in the incident and was tentatively identified, but no name was released, pending an autopsy, officials said.
"Whether it was an accident or a deliberate act is still under investigation," the officer said.
Calls to Dick Simon Trucking were not returned by press deadline Wednesday. As of 1999, the company employed 1,700 drivers. Including the cab, its typical tractor-trailer is 72 feet long and weighs 16 tons without cargo.
The driver was burned beyond recognition. No other injuries were reported.
Legislators were holding an emergency session about the California power crisis at the time of the incident, about 9:15 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.
Matthew C. Z'Berg, a legislative aide who works in the California Capitol, said he had just left work and was walking down 11th street near the Capitol when he noticed a "big rig" roaring along the street and honking its horn.
"He was coming toward me going progressively faster, like 40, 50, 60, 70 miles an hour," he said. It was not as if the truck had lost its brakes, he said, because the route to the Capitol is basically flat, not downhill.
"He blew about three stop signs (and) a red light, honking his horn." Z'Berg said he watched and saw no brake lights go on during the truck's run.
As the truck passed him, he watched to see what it would do. The driver would have to take a right turn and roll the truck if it was to stay on the road at that point, he said.
"Instead, he was going about 70. He jumped the curb."
The truck crossed a grassy plot a little shorter than a football field, he said. Then it "went up the granite steps of the Capitol and then slammed the front of his 18-wheeler into the doors of the Capitol."
The truck went between pillars and rammed the front doors, which are wooden. "He basically was trying to run his truck through the Capitol, and he ended up ramming the two huge doors right there," he said.
Two seconds later, Z'Berg said, "there was a horrific explosion."
Two stunned women told Z'Berg that this was the second time the truck had come by. The first time it was going about 50 miles per hour, they told him.
They said, "He just drove by here about five minutes ago. He like made a dry run at first, then made a suicide run the second."
Z'Berg said the place where the truck hit was the only side of the Capitol where a vehicle could get a good run at the building.
"It didn't look like an accident," Z'Berg said.
Nick Rossi, public affairs officer for the Sacramento FBI office, said, in a recording, the tractor was loaded with canisters of condensed milk, "which erupted due to the intense heat."
Explosions of the milk cans and the rig's tires probably explain reports of explosions, he said.
"Damage to the interior of the building was moderate and included fire, smoke and water damage," Rossi said. The structure remains intact.
At the time of the crash an emergency legislative session was taking place, and more than 100 legislators, members of the public, staff members and media representatives were evacuated.
Investigators include members of a joint task force on terrorism, but officials have not determined if the incident was terrorism, he said.
E-mail: bau@desnews.com