Pair killed during fight on Road 400

A Raymond man and a Madera woman were killed Sunday night due to a traffic accident that resulted from a fight in the middle of Road 400 near Road 406.

The deceased, Dean Cram of Raymond and Lucille Trullinger of Madera, were killed about 10 p.m. when they were run over by a motorist who didn’t see them in the darkness, a situation compounded by blinding headlights, according to a CHP report.

The incident occurred when Cram and Trullinger, riding as passengers in a 2001 Dodge Neon driven by Rickey Holt, 39, of Madera got into an argument.

Holt stopped his car, and Cram and Trullinger got out and continued to argue. Holt then got out of the car and attempted to intervene.

Cram hit Holt in the right eye with his fist, and Holt reciprocated by hitting Cram and knocking him to the pavement. Trullinger then jumped on Cram and tried to pin him down to end the fight.

At that point, along came Joi Phatdouang, 68, of Fresno in a 1974 Toyota pickup.

“Because of the blinding effect of the Dodge Neon’s headlights,” said a CHP report, Phatduong, who was driving southbound, was unable to see Trullinger and Cram on the pavement in front of him, and ran over them.

Officers from the California Highway Patrol Madera Area Office were dispatched to the scene to investigate. They tried to save the lives of the two crushed victims until paramedics and fire personnel took over, but to no avail. The two were pronounced dead at the scene.

Holt was found to have been driving the Dodge Neon while drunk, and was arrested and charged.

Phatduong was found to be sober, and was released to go home.