A San Leandro man carrying a load of broccoli from Salinas to Oakland was killed Friday when his big rig overturned on Highway 1 near Gilroy.

The truck accident occurred just after midnight on Highway 101 at the Sargent Road overcrossing, according to reports in the Monterey County Herald and Hollister Freelance.

The 65-year-old driver, Manuel Palma, was heading northbound in a 2005 International tractor-trailer when he made an unsafe lane change. He apparently lost control of his truck, which crashed into the metal guard rail on the east side of the highway and continued to move along the guardrail.

California Highway Patrol officer Jaime Rios told the Watsonville Register-Pajaronian the driver may have over-corrected after the big rig went off the right shoulder. That caused the truck to slide across the roadway, where the cab separated from the trailer. The truck overturned and came to rest on the highway.

The driver was pronounced dead at the scene.

The wreck blocked the northbound lanes of the highway between Betabel Road and Highway 25 for more than nine hours.

“We had to take a lot of time on this because of the weight of the load,” Rios said. “All of the broccoli had to be off-loaded.”

The truck and broccoli combined weighed 80,000 pounds. It took three heavy-duty tow rigs working together to move the overturned trailer back into an upright position. Caltrans crews also had to repair the damaged guardrail before the road could again be opened.

CHP officials have not yet determined whether drugs and alcohol were involved in the fatal crash, which is still under investigation.

“For the sake of the family we want to take every measure to conduct a full investigation as to what happened,” Rios said. Anyone with information about the accident is urged to call the CHP Hollister/Gilroy office at 408-848-2324.

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have been representing injury victims since 1976, and have special expertise in cases involving motor vehicle accident injuries and fatalities.  The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.