Dive Brief:
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The crew installing a sidewalk on a Bonney Lake, WA, bridge did not have the right equipment for the job when a concrete barrier fell off of the overpass and killed a young family riding underneath in their truck, police said this week.
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A 112-page police report claimed the crew cut the concrete even though they did not have an excavator with a "thumb" to grab the 50-foot-long barrier as they worked. The wrong excavator had been delivered to the job site, the report said, and some witnesses said the crew should have stopped working.
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Workers told police they had no warning the slab was going to fall and could not have stopped it.
Dive Insight:
No criminal charges have been filed, but the subcontractor involved in the accident has been fired, according to the Bonney Lake Courier-Herald. Work resumed on the bridge this week, although no demolition is allowed for at least three weeks. No traffic will be allowed under the overpass during construction, the newspaper reported, and the city and the state Department of Transportation will have to approve demolition and safety plans for the project going forward.