13 Prime raises money after cook is killed while biking to work

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The preparation is underway for the dinner rush at 13 Prime Steak in Clovis, but the day is anything but normal without an important part of the kitchen team, 32-year-old Joshua Brown.

"It's hard to be open right now because that is how close he is to everybody here," said Executive Sous Chef Roy Young.

His bosses say for the past four years, Joshua was a model employee. He rode his bike to work every morning for his 7 am shift, rain or shine and was never late.

So when he didn't show up to work on time this week, Chef Roy knew something was wrong. Then he heard a bicyclist had been hit by a truck near Cedar and Bullard Ave.

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"Right away, we knew that was Josh," he said.

Fresno Police says the driver did stay on the scene to cooperate with investigators. They still can't confirm whether Joshua was using the bike lane when the crash happened.

"It's too early to tell," said Officer Felipe Uribe with the Fresno Police Department. "We don't know. That's stuff that we will gather as we go through."

The owners of 13 Prime are now raising money through GoFundMe for Joshua's funeral expenses and for his family. Joshua's father relied on him to get to his cancer treatment appointments.

"He would talk about his dad. He loved his dad," said Joshua's co-worker, Nikolas Minassian. "They pretty much had each other and that was about it. It's a big loss for all of us."

"Everybody liked Josh. If you met Josh, you would just automatically just like the guy," said Chef Roy. "A very warm personality."