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UDOT worker recovering after out-of-control semi hits him

Posted at 9:22 PM, Aug 01, 2017
and last updated 2017-08-02 08:30:08-04

HEBER CITY, Utah -- Morgan McCarthey has worked for UDOT for almost 13 years, but it wasn't until July 20 that the potential danger of his job became impossible to ignore.

"I never thought in my life that something like this could happen to me," McCarthey said.

McCarthey and his crew of four men had just arrived to inspect the Jeremy Ranch bridge, and had pulled off on the shoulder of Interstate 80.  When McCarthey got out of his vehicle, he turned around, and saw a large semi-truck barreling toward him.

“It`s over for me," McCarthey thought.  "That was my first instinct, I`m pretty much dead."

Luckily that thought didn't paralyze him.  He ran out of the way, bracing himself behind his truck.

“He hit my truck at 70 mph shoving it down the road and so it caused me to go down the road,” McCarthey said.

He woke up to the sound of voices.

“People asking 'are you okay? What`s going on? We got help coming',” McCarthey said.

He was rushed to the hospital but amazingly was released later that day.  He fractured his lower back and has a lot of swelling and bruising.

“Luckily somebody that day watched out for me,” McCarthey said.

To top things off, it was his daughter Stella’s 7th birthday.

“Spending her birthday at the hospital," McCarthy said.  "It`s tough for a 7 year old but that`s why I say every day you never known what to expect."

He's still not sure why the truck driver swerved onto the shoulder.

“It’s still under investigation. They`re not sure if he was distracted by a cell phone or had fallen asleep."

McCarthey plans to get back to work as soon as he can and hopes drivers will think twice before barreling into his office again.

“We want them to get home safely to their families and we want to get home safe too when were out there working."