Trash Collector Crushed Under Bin of Truck

A Los Angeles city trash collector died Wednesday in Reseda when he was crushed beneath the hydraulically operated loading bin of his truck as he bent over to pick up rubbish.

John Rodriguez, 35, of Northridge had just operated controls to lift the bin over the cab when it fell and slammed down on his back about 9:10 a.m., according to witnesses and investigators.

The cause of the accident in the 6600 block of Enfield Avenue was not known, but city investigators will inspect the truck for mechanical or hydraulic failures. Cal/OSHA spokesman Richard Stephens said his agency was also investigating the accident, as was the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

City trash trucks are inspected every five weeks and operators are required to test controls every morning. The city did not order additional inspections following the accident, officials said.

Rodriguez, who worked for the city for five years, was the first trash collector to be killed while working, said Mike Miller, assistant director of the Bureau of Sanitation. He was about a quarter of the way through his route and had used the loading equipment several times since he began work at 6 a.m., said Bill Knapp, refuse collection manager.

Knapp said the hydraulic arms that support the bin are designed to move only while levers on the truck are pulled by the operator. The arms lift the bin over the top of the cab to dump loads into the truck’s large storage container. When the operator releases the levers, the arms and bin are supposed to stop moving, Knapp said.

It appeared that Rodriguez had released the lever when the dumpster was high above the ground and that he was bending over to pick up spilled rubbish when the arms failed.

Mayor Tom Bradley ordered flags in the city flown at half-staff until Rodriguez’s funeral.

William Rodriguez, 60, who lives one house away from where the trash collector was crushed, said he was watering his lawn with his back to the truck when he heard a crash. But, he said, he figured it was the routine noise of garbage collection and paid no attention.

Minutes later, he noticed that the truck had not moved and saw the driver under the front bin. “I thought he was underneath fixing something,” he said.

When neighbor Larry DiTommaso, 45, ran outside and told Rodriguez that he thought something was wrong, Rodriguez walked over to the truck to see what had happened. As his wife called emergency crews, Rodriguez pulled one of the levers to raise the arms and bin from atop the dead man before paramedics arrived.