Driver Killed By Concrete Debris Falling From Highway Above [Video]

Concrete fell from an overpass on Highway 410 onto Angeline Road East in Bonney Lake Monday morning, killing the driver of a passenger pickup truck. According to King 5, a local construction company had a crew working on the overpass as part of a WSDOT project to make the sidewalks a safer place for pedestrians. Unfortunately, someone lost their life in order for others to be safer.

KIRO-TV reveals that the construction involved “tearing down part of the existing bridge” in order to put in the new sidewalks. Angeline Road underneath the bridge had been closed over the weekend but was reopened Monday morning.

It was just after 10 a.m. when a 20-foot piece of the bridge fell. The 12,000-pound debris slammed directly onto the top of the truck as it was passing under the bridge, crushing it completely. Firefighters informed KIRO-TV that they are unsure if anyone else was in the truck besides the driver. They will not be able to determine that information until the debris is removed, which could take quite a while.

Dawn Nelson was traveling in the car just behind the truck when the accident occurred. She told King 5 what she experienced.

“We were just heading down the street… and I could hear three snaps and down it went on top of the truck. There was nothing anyone could do. It was just surreal.”

Another witness, Dave Berg, lives right down the street from where the accident occurred.

He said, “They had been flagging traffic for the last couple of days when they were working on that… makes it even more sad I guess that they weren’t doing that today. It just sounded like thunder. I didn’t think much of it when I was in the house… It’s disturbing when it’s that close to home.”

Dan Grigsby, director of Bonney Lake Public Works, said Angelina Road was opened back up on Monday because there should have been no chance of something like this happening.

The road is now currently closed until further notice.

[Photo Credit: KIROTV.com]