Trucker's request for Obama stops traffic

By Hailey Persinger
March 3, 2011 at 5:04 p.m.

A truck driver jackknifed his big rig at 7:35 a.m. Thursday, blocking four southbound lanes of Interstate 805 just north of state Route 163. He then got out of the truck, laid down next to the center divider and demanded to talk to President Barack Obama, halting rush-hour traffic for nearly half an hour.

The driver, Carlos Daniel Manaya, 41, of Robbinsville, N.J., was hauling frozen food. He didn’t say what he wanted to talk to the president about, said California Highway Patrol officer Art Athans.

When Manaya refused to get up, CHP officers pulled him from the ground. He was then hospitalized for a mental evaluation, Athans said. He said the driver had not been drinking or using illegal drugs.

CHP officers and their police dogs searched his truck for explosives or other hazards. When they didn’t find any, Athans said, a truck driver who was caught in the traffic volunteered to help the officers move the big rig to the right shoulder.

Traffic began to flow again at 7:55 a.m., Athans said.

hailey.persinger@uniontrib.com • (619) 293-2836

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