Worker Run Over, Killed In Cone Zone Mishap

[CPOPE]

Worker Backs Over Colleague On I-25 In Pueblo
10:58 pm MDT April 9, 2009

PUEBLO, Colo. -- A Colorado Department of Transportation employee was killed Thursday morning when another CDOT worker backed over him while they were setting up cones on Interstate 25.

Pueblo police said the accident happened at 10:46 a.m. near the Ilex exit of the interstate.

"It's just a freak accident," Sgt. Steve Zittel told the Pueblo Chieftain. "The driver was backing up -- the truck had its reverse audible signals working -- and he didn't know his coworker was behind him and backed over him."

The victim was rushed to Parkview Medical Center where efforts to revive him failed. Pueblo County Coroner James Kramer identified the dead man as 31-year-old David Valdez. The name of the truck's driver has not been released.

The two workers were part of a 10-member work crew who had placed cones on the outside lane of the highway. The CDOT crew was getting ready to repair expansion joints on a bridge when the accident happened, said CDOT spokeswoman Stacey Stegman.

The worker was backing up a 2001 Ford F-450 Utility Truck on the right hand lane of traffic when he struck Valdez, who was walking in a section of road that had been closed to traffic.

CDOT is investigating. The district attorney will decide what charges, if any, will be filed.

[Patriot]

Freak accident? I have a problem with the word accident, when some one dies or is injured in this sort of tragedy or any act, it is negligence. My heart goes out to the dead mans family and even to the guy that backed over him. But the word "accident" is used all to frequently now days. There is no such thing as an accident.

[Chazz2771]

Freak accident? I have a problem with the word accident, when some one dies or is injured in this sort of tragedy or any act, it is negligence. My heart goes out to the dead mans family and even to the guy that backed over him. But the word "accident" is used all to frequently now days. There is no such thing as an accident.

I'd say that I have to agree