Sanitation worker run over, killed while trying to get back on garbage truck
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (WJXT) - An investigation is underway after a sanitation worker was killed while on the job in Florida on Friday.
He had been throwing trash into the back of a garbage truck when it happened.
Sergeant Robert Hungerford with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said that at around 11:15 a.m. Friday, a garbage truck was backing up to make room for another trash truck coming down the street.
“One of the waste management people that throws the trash into the back of the truck jumps off, and he is guiding the driver back so they can safely back up,” Hungerford said. “And as the truck was moving backward, he ran to jump to get on it, and he slipped on the step and went under the rear wheel.”
Several neighbors said nothing like this had ever happened in their neighborhood before. One woman who spoke off camera said she immediately went to give CPR to the man, but at that point, it was too late.
Another woman said her husband was coming home from a trip to Home Depot. He saw all the police vehicles and called her, asking what was going on. She looked outside and saw something she never expected to see.
“I noticed that the road was blocked off and that I could see the gentleman, unfortunately in the road, and could kind of tell what had happened,” she said.
Bryant has been dealing with feelings of guilt since the worker was picking up the trash from her house when the incident happened.
“I feel even worse because it was our trash he was picking up, though. So, I’ve kind of dealt with the guilt all day, feeling like, oh my gosh,” she said. “What if we had just hired somebody to haul that off instead of having regular bulk pickup come to pick it up?
Bryant said that the worker’s family has been in her thoughts and prayers since the incident.
“I think I saw some of his family at some point down here that someone had called them to come down and just my thoughts and prayers are with them, especially during the holiday season, like it’s just awful to have to go through that. Nobody should have to do that, not, especially not a freak accident like this,” Bryant said.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has not released the name of the man who died.
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