Police identify man run over by delivery truck

Police have identified Kurt Raymond Ast as the man who witnesses said committed suicide Monday by diving under the rear tires of a delivery truck as it backed up in Newport Beach.

Ast, 47, was a transient in the Newport-Mesa area who witnesses said had been acting erratically up to the moment he dove onto the street, Newport Beach Police Sgt. Steve Burdette said Wednesday.

Ast was killed at 30th Street and Newport Boulevard by an Albertson’s delivery truck. Two witnesses reported seeing him run into the street and dive under the rear tires about 10 a.m. Monday.

Court records show Ast pleaded guilty May 10 to five separate incidents of public intoxication from December to February. He also had three public intoxication convictions in 2009.

A toxicology report that would show if Ast had any drugs or alcohol in his system when he committed suicide is expected to be released in six to eight weeks, coroner’s officials said.

— Joseph Serna