The West Hartford highway ramp where a bridge inspector was crushed and killed Wednesday afternoon remained closed for more than 24 hours before crews finally managed to remove the truck that tipped over.
William Shook, 43, of Middlefield, was performing a routine bridge inspection for the state Department of Transportation when his truck tipped over and crushed him on the exit 43 entrance ramp from Park Road to Interstate 84 eastbound, according to officials.
Shook was using a snooper truck, which has an arm and bucket that hangs down below the bridge, to inspect part of the ramp.
Officials said he was standing between the truck and the bridge railing, retracting the truck's arm, when the 62,000-pound vehicle tipped over and pinned him.
Shook was killed.
The truck hung upside down over the edge of the ramp Wednesday and was removed Thursday night. DOT officials said the heavy vehicle was unbalanced, creating a "dangerous" situation, so crews from a private contractor had to disassemble the truck and move it piece by piece.
It was the second bridge inspection incident in two days. Firefighters rescued workers on Tuesday after the bucket of a snooper truck owned by the same company got stuck hanging over the side of the Gold Star Bridge in Groton.
Local
DOT officials said McClain & Co., a subcontractor out of Virginia, was involved in both incidents. The state has suspended all services with the company as a safety precaution.
"They're going to have to do the investigation to find out what went wrong. Two incidents in two days; I guess the prudent thing would be to suspend them until you find out exactly what happened," West Hartford Asst. Fire Chief Richard Winn said.
McClain & Co. has declined to comment on the situation.
Officials from the Occupational Health and Safety Administration said there have been no other incidents involving the company.
