A 59-year-old man is dead after crashing his motorcycle into a Kern County Sheriff’s cruiser at Airport Drive and Norris Road in Oildale.

Robert Rodriguez, an officer with the California Highway Patrol, says the deputy was responding to an emergency call before 5:15 p.m. Tuesday and approached the intersection with his lights and siren from westbound Norris.

“He had slowed to make a left turn onto Airport Drive, when a motorcyclist traveling eastbound on Norris Road struck his patrol car broadside,” he said.

Rodriguez says the deputy may have tried to make the turn against a red light.

– Anthony Pollreisz