Hispanic Flagger Dies After Being Run Over by a Dump Truck – North Carolina

On June 29, 2004, a 34-year-old Hispanic flagger (the victim) died after being run over by a partially-filled dump truck. The incident occurred in North Carolina. The victim was a member of a three-man crew filling drop-off areas along the shoulders of a secondary state road with a dirt/gravel mixture of unclassified stone, also known as UCL. The victim was flagging from a position on the passenger side of the ten-wheel dump truck, on the shoulder of the opposite side of the road. As the amount of UCL became insufficient to level the road shoulder, the driver-side worker motioned for the truck driver to stop the truck and raise the bed to allow more UCL to flow to the rear of the truck. When sufficient material to fill the low spots again began to flow, the worker motioned for the driver to pull forward. As the truck moved forward, the rear of the truck swayed and the driver-side worker again motioned the driver to stop. He then walked around the rear of the truck to the passenger side and discovered the victim underneath the two sets of rear tandem wheels. He called to the driver, who ran around the front of the truck to the passenger side and immediately called 911 from a cell phone. Emergency Medical Service (EMS) and fire personnel responded and used a jack to raise the rear axle of the truck and extricate the victim. Two emergency room physicians passing the scene stopped to assist the EMS personnel in treating the victim. The victim was transported by life flight helicopter to the hospital where he was pronounced dead by the attending physician.