SALT LAKE CITY — A man was killed in Salt Lake City Sunday night after he was crushed between a wrecker and an RV during an industrial accident.
Lt. Craig Gleason of the Salt Lake City Police Department said they were called to Bullock’s Towing Inc., near 5400 West and 800 South, just before 9 p.m., and he said at first they weren’t sure exactly what they were responding to.
“What we found was an industrial accident that cost a man his life,” Gleason said.
Gleason said they reviewed surveillance footage and spoke with the man’s girlfriend and were able to determine what happened. The man had been operating a large wrecker when he got out of the vehicle, apparently leaving the wrecker in drive as he engaged in conversation with someone.
The wrecker began to move, and it reached a speed estimated at 3-5 mph. At that time, the man tried to get back into the vehicle.
“He attempted to catch up with the wrecker, almost made it, and the wrecker went very close to a parked RV, and he was squeezed between the two,” Gleason said.
The man, who has not yet been identified, has been an employee at the company for two years. He is in his mid-50s.
Gleason said the wrecker may not have been traveling very fast, but there was still a tremendous amount of force that was brought to bear on the victim.
“Maybe 5 mph, it wasn’t going that fast, but it is large and very heavy,” Gleason said. “And he ran after it, the door was hanging open, and just about the time he leaped into the doorway, the [wrecker] went very close to an RV, and that [RV] closed the door with all the force involved.”
