N.CarolinaDozer
Senior Member
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2007
- Messages
- 377
- Location
- Granite Falls, NC (U.S.A.)
- Occupation
- Heavy Equipment Operator
Please keep the family of Mrs. Tracy White in your prayers!
Construction accident kills worker on U.S. 321
By Edward Terry, News-Topic Editor
Tuesday, July 22, 2008 8:28 PM EDT
Tragedy struck on the U.S. 321 construction site north of Lenoir Tuesday afternoon when a local woman lost her life in an accident involving her own vehicle.
Tracy White, 36, of Lenoir, was killed when she lost control of her dump truck on a mountain side, approximately one mile north of the Mountain Stop convenience store past Richland Road, North Carolina Highway Patrol Trooper Chris Bentley said of the preliminary investigation findings.
"She had made 20 to 30 dumps throughout the day," he said, based on accounts given by witnesses at the scene. "She was backing down, and it looks like the brakes (went out)."
According to witnesses, White leaped from the out-of-control vehicle, which turned over on her before sliding down the steep mountain slope. White was deceased when paramedics arrived on the scene, according to Caldwell County Emergency Services.
Bentley added that White was the only passenger in the vehicle at the time of the accident and that the investigation will be handled by the NCHP's Motor Carrier Section since it was a commercial accident.
This is at least the second serious accident during the long-term U.S. 321 widening project, which started in 2005 and is scheduled for completion next month, but the first resulting in a fatality.
Family members of the victim were on the scene within an hour of the accident, which occurred shortly after 3 p.m. In an understandably emotional scene, her mother and daughter were notified of the tragic accident by Highway Patrol troopers. Emergency workers and law enforcement on the scene, as well as local pastor Randy Gibson, comforted the family as best they could.
W.C. English Construction Company employees were on the scene as well and were quite emotional about the loss, but work came to a standstill.
"We shut everything down and sent everybody home," English General Superintendent Henry McDaniel said. "That was our immediate response to (the fatal accident)."
In addition to the NCHP and Caldwell Emergency Services, Patterson Fire Department and Lenoir Rescue responded to the scene. They helped with retrieval of the victim and of the truck, which had come to rest upside down at the bottom of the mountain, Patterson Fire Chief Reggie Ford said.
The operation was expected to take quite some time due to the potential for a fuel spill while retrieving the vehicle. There was no diesel spilled at the time of the accident.
Construction accident kills worker on U.S. 321
By Edward Terry, News-Topic Editor
Tuesday, July 22, 2008 8:28 PM EDT
Tragedy struck on the U.S. 321 construction site north of Lenoir Tuesday afternoon when a local woman lost her life in an accident involving her own vehicle.
Tracy White, 36, of Lenoir, was killed when she lost control of her dump truck on a mountain side, approximately one mile north of the Mountain Stop convenience store past Richland Road, North Carolina Highway Patrol Trooper Chris Bentley said of the preliminary investigation findings.
"She had made 20 to 30 dumps throughout the day," he said, based on accounts given by witnesses at the scene. "She was backing down, and it looks like the brakes (went out)."
According to witnesses, White leaped from the out-of-control vehicle, which turned over on her before sliding down the steep mountain slope. White was deceased when paramedics arrived on the scene, according to Caldwell County Emergency Services.
Bentley added that White was the only passenger in the vehicle at the time of the accident and that the investigation will be handled by the NCHP's Motor Carrier Section since it was a commercial accident.
This is at least the second serious accident during the long-term U.S. 321 widening project, which started in 2005 and is scheduled for completion next month, but the first resulting in a fatality.
Family members of the victim were on the scene within an hour of the accident, which occurred shortly after 3 p.m. In an understandably emotional scene, her mother and daughter were notified of the tragic accident by Highway Patrol troopers. Emergency workers and law enforcement on the scene, as well as local pastor Randy Gibson, comforted the family as best they could.
W.C. English Construction Company employees were on the scene as well and were quite emotional about the loss, but work came to a standstill.
"We shut everything down and sent everybody home," English General Superintendent Henry McDaniel said. "That was our immediate response to (the fatal accident)."
In addition to the NCHP and Caldwell Emergency Services, Patterson Fire Department and Lenoir Rescue responded to the scene. They helped with retrieval of the victim and of the truck, which had come to rest upside down at the bottom of the mountain, Patterson Fire Chief Reggie Ford said.
The operation was expected to take quite some time due to the potential for a fuel spill while retrieving the vehicle. There was no diesel spilled at the time of the accident.
