Washington County sheriffs deputies have a deadly mystery on their hands: What caused an unattended accident in which a man was crushed between his pickup truck and a utility trailer?
Sheriff’s Lt. Dave Crouse said deputies found the man pinned between his Ford F-350 pickup and a fifth-wheel style dump trailer loaded with gravel at 3:39 p.m. Tuesday near the town of Veyo, along the 600 block of Chad Ranch Road.
“It is something of a mystery,” Crouse said on Wednesday. “We‘re still looking into it, and it is early in our investigation [but] we are looking at the hitch mechanism having failed perhaps, either on the trailer or on the receiver end at the truck.“
A co-worker, concerned about the man’s whereabouts, had called the sheriff’s office. He provided a general location where he believed the 56-year-old victim was working, spreading gravel along a road bed.
The St. George man, whose identity was being withheld pending notification of next of kin, was declared dead at the scene after efforts to revive him were unsuccessful, Crouse said.
Crouse said whatever the tragic genesis, evidence seemed to indicate that the trailer rolled forward, trapping the man, who was standing in the gap between the trailer and rear of the pickup truck at the time.
Deputies believe the accident had occurred no more than 20 minutes prior to their arrival, Crouse said.