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Pedestrian Hit, Killed Crossing Busy Road In Atherton

ATHERTON (KCBS/BCN) - A stretch of El Camino Real was shut down for much of Friday morning while Atherton police investigated the death of a transient who was struck and killed while trying to cross the street.

The San Mateo County coroner's office identified the man who was fatally struck as 55-year-old Honofre Mendoza.

KCBS' Matt Bigler Reports:

The crash was reported around 6:15 a.m. on El Camino Real just north of Watkins Avenue, Atherton police Lt. Joe Wade said.

Officers responded and found Mendoza, a transient who was staying at a homeless encampment in the area, lying in the far left southbound lane of the road.

Emergency personnel tried to revive him, but he was pronounced dead at the scene, Wade said.

Police originally said Mendoza was 65 years old, but the coroner's office clarified that he was 55.

The driver of the Toyota Camry that struck the victim stopped at the scene and is fully cooperating with police, Wade said.

The preliminary investigation has revealed that Mendoza and another man were leaving the homeless encampment and were crossing the road in an area that does not have a crosswalk, according to Wade.

He said the first of the two men made it across, but Mendoza was struck by the vehicle, which was traveling in the middle southbound lane.

Lanes of El Camino Real were closed between Atherton and Encinal avenues for more than four hours due to the crash. The road was fully reopened around10:45 a.m., police said.

The death was the second to occur on a half-mile stretch of El Camino Real in the past few weeks.

A 62-year-old bicyclist was struck and killed while crossing the road at Isabella Avenue around 10:35 a.m. on Sept. 30.

Wade said the two fatalities show the need to "be safe when you're crossing the roadway."

"It's already a hazard when you cross the street as a pedestrian, so use caution," he said.

(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)

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