A Fort Worth Waste Management driver lost his life Wednesday morning after his trash truck veered out of its lane and collided with an overpass support beam, leaving witnesses shaken and prompting a desperate roadside rescue effort.
The driver was identified as 33-year-old Tyler Shivers. A second occupant of the truck sustained injuries in the crash. Waste Management confirmed Shivers was an employee and expressed condolences to his family.
Marcus Hawkins was seated in his vehicle just yards away when he watched the truck drift between lanes before striking a slope and slamming into the concrete beam. He immediately rushed toward the wreckage along with another bystander and used a pocket knife to cut through the seat belt and help pull the passenger to safety through smoke and debris.
“When I get out it’s just smoke and debris so it’s kind of hard to breathe” Hawkins recalled. He described helping hold the passenger upright while another person freed him from shrapnel before they were able to pull him clear of the truck.
Nearby resident Abby Zuniga felt a powerful vibration through her home and initially mistook it for thunder. She ran outside toward the crash and described the fear shared by everyone at the scene that the truck could catch fire or that the bridge overhead might collapse.
Zuniga said it became clear the driver had not survived and that she covered him at the scene. She later spoke with the families of both men and said she was grieving alongside them.
Hawkins said the experience left him unable to sleep but that he would not hesitate to help again in a similar situation. He said he acted because he hoped someone would do the same for his own loved ones if they were ever in danger.
Waste Management released a statement saying the company lost a valued member of its team and is cooperating fully with investigators. The company said its thoughts are with the employee’s family and the injured passenger.
A Fort Worth police officer at the scene described the damage to the overpass as unlike anything he had previously encountered. State and local agencies have begun evaluating the structural damage and officials say the assessment process alone is expected to take at least one week.
The National Transportation Safety Board announced Thursday that it has opened a formal safety investigation into the crash in coordination with the Fort Worth Police Department.