T.O. resident dies after being hit by truck

When 80-year-old Vikrama Panikkar, out for an afternoon walk on May 25, tried to cross the westbound lanes of Olsen Road just past Sunset Hills Boulevard, he was struck and killed by a Ford Ranger pickup driven by a 54year-old Thousand Oaks man.

The truck's driver braked but was unable to avoid hitting Panikkar, who suddenly turned and walked in front of the vehicle, according to Sgt. Tom Bennett of the Thousand Oaks Police Department traffic division.

At the accident scene at 5:20 p.m. Panikkar was alert and coherent, Bennett said. "He told officers he walked every day and had decided to go a little farther that day," Bennett said. "He kept telling the officers, 'I'm fine."'

The Thousand Oaks resident was taken to Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center for treatment. He died at the hospital a2:50 p.m. the following dafrom what Deputy Medical Examiner Michael Tellez describeas blunt force head injuries.

Neither drugs nor alcohol appear to be a factor in the collsion, Bennett said. The speelimit on the street is 50 mph. "One hundred feet west othe incident is a crosswalk wita signal," Bennett said.