Dramatic testimony in murder trial of trucker in La Cañada crash: 'I saw the terror on his face'

Jurors in the Angeles Crest truck crash murder trial heard dramatic testimony on Monday from a woman who was inside a La Cañada Flintridge bookshop and cafe when the big rig crashed through the store.

Melissa Watkins, inventory manager at Flintridge Bookstore and Coffeehouse at the time, said she and truck driver Marcos Costa locked eyes for a brief, terrifying moment as Costa’s 25-ton car-hauler approached from 15 feet away before she ran for her life to a side door.

“I saw the horror on his face. His eyes were bulging out of his head,” said Watkins, who was unharmed in the crash and went on to work as a math teacher, according to 818 Now. “I felt like he was looking right into my eyes and I into his. I thought we both thought we were going to die right at that moment."

Palmdale resident Angel Posca, 58, and his 12-year-old daughter Angelina were killed and a dozen others injured when Costa, 46, lost the brakes on his truck and sped down Angeles Crest Highway before plowing through its busy terminus at Foothill Boulevard.

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--Joe Piasecki, Times Community News

Photo: The 2009 crash scene. Credit: Los Angeles Times