Truck driver, student killed when truck plunges off freeway ramp

DALLAS (AP) - A truck driver and a 20-year-old college student are dead after an 18- wheeler plunged off a freeway ramp near downtown Dallas and landed on a car on the road below.

Police say the tractor-trailer rig loaded with pipes lost control yesterday afternoon on ramp that curves toward Interstate 35 and fell on the car.

The mangled truck could be seen underneath the I-35 overpass. Pieces of the truck and lead piping were scattered nearby.

The truck driver was 38-yearold David Simonelli, 38, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. So was 20-year-old Ashley Parra, who was killed when the truck fell onto her car.

Parra was a student at the University of North Texas. She had attended Southern Methodist University for two years before transferring. Her grandmother says Parra was on her way to work at a downtown restaurant when she was killed, her grandmother said.

Simonelli had been working for Texas Land & Air Company for about a month.

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Information from: The Dallas Morning News: www.dallasnews. com