FORT WORTH, TEXAS — A 33-year-old Waste Management driver was killed Wednesday evening when the trash truck he was driving drifted from its lane, struck a slope, and slammed into several support pillars of the Erath Street bridge on southbound Highway 287 near downtown Fort Worth. Bystanders used pocket knives to try to free the men from the wreckage. One was already gone. The other, his passenger, is in critical condition.
Tyler Bradley Shivers was identified by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office. His passenger, identified by family as Ruben Saenz, was hospitalized in critical condition. The two were on their way to drop off the truck at the end of their shift — the Waste Management landfill is just down the street from where the crash happened.
Fort Worth Fire Department responded around 6 p.m. to the 3500 block of Martin Luther King Freeway. The truck had exited the highway and struck several support columns of the bridge over Erath Street. Shivers was ejected and declared dead at the scene.
Bystanders Rush In
Marcus Hawkins was sitting in his car just yards away when it happened. He saw the truck drift between lanes before hitting a slope and slamming into the column. He and another man ran to the truck and used pocket knives to try to cut the men free.
“When I get out, it’s just smoke and debris, so it’s kind of hard to breathe,” Hawkins said. “I helped him hold him up. And he was able to cut the seat belt when he pulled him out. We pulled him with safety.”
Hawkins said he had trouble sleeping after the crash. “I just hope if I was ever in that situation, that somebody else would step out, step into a line of duty to help them as well.”
Abby Zuñiga, who lives next to the bridge, felt a large vibration through her house and initially thought it was thunder. She ran outside and toward the truck. “Our biggest fear in that moment, everyone’s — you can see it on their face — was this is either gonna burn, explode, or the bridge is gonna collapse,” she said. She covered Shivers when she realized he was gone and later spoke with both men’s families at the scene. “I’m grieving with them and I feel really bad. I’m sorry for how that happened.”
Waste Management said it is cooperating with the investigation. “We lost a valued member of the WM family, and we are cooperating with police as they investigate. Our thoughts and prayers are with the employee’s family and the other passenger involved in this accident.”
On Thursday the National Transportation Safety Board announced it has opened a safety investigation in coordination with the Fort Worth Police Department. Police have not determined why the truck veered off the road. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
Interviews courtesy of local media.
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