ALTURAS — A Lakeland man was killed early Friday morning when his Kenworth box truck rear-ended a Freightliner tractor-trailer on State Road 60 just north of Alturas.
Xavier Pikerie, 32, died at the scene, according to a Polk County Sheriff’s Office spokesman. He was wearing a seat belt, but his vehicle was not equipped with an airbag.
Pikerie was traveling east on S.R. 60 shortly after 1 a.m. when he struck the Freightliner, which had turned into the eastbound lane of the highway at Logistics Parkway, according to spokesman Brian Bruchey.
The Freightliner’s driver, Benny Perez-Castaneira, 27, of Orlando, was not injured. He was wearing a seat belt, Bruchey said.
An accident investigation is ongoing, but investigators don’t think that speed or driver impairment were factors, he said.
S.R. 60 was reduced to one lane of travel in each direction for much of the morning.