Man whose body landed on sign had animal sacrifice days before crash

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The family of a man whose body was ejected onto an overhead freeway sign in a car crash said they performed a lamb sacrifice five days earlier to protect him from harm.

Richard Pananian, 20, was ejected after his car hit a pickup truck on a California highway Friday, the Los Angeles Times reports. Pananian was not wearing a seatbelt, police said.

It was very unusual for Pananian to not wear a seatbelt, a cousin told the Times. The story also quoted Armen Kardashian as saying his cousin was a car enthusiast who even had a racing safety harness in his driver’s seat.

Kardashian said Pananian was suffering from undisclosed health problems, so the family performed an Armenian Church ritual, called a matagh, to keep him out of harm’s way, according to the Times. He was headed to a new job when he crashed, Kardashian told the Times.

Since the crash, Pananian's family has set up a GoFundMe account to raise money "for unexpected financial burdens," according to the Times. They have already raised more than $17,000 toward a goal of $50,000.