Kentucky woman was picked up by a garbage truck’s grappler claw and crushed, her family’s lawyer says
The family of a Kentucky woman killed when a garbage truck accidentally picked her up is planning to take legal action against the city after the county coroner confirmed the woman’s cause of death was blunt force and compression trauma.
For weeks, Louisville police claimed that 35-year-old Tyrah Adams died after “contact” with a garbage truck during a “routine” cleanup of an alley.
Adams, a homeless woman, was caught by a garbage truck using hydraulic claws while trying to clear debris on February 12. Louisville Public Media reported. Truck operators reportedly did not see Adams and later rescued him from his clutches.
Adams’ family believes he then walked to a nearby convenience store and a worker and a customer called 911. Adams died from his injuries after being taken to the hospital.
“He didn’t get into this truck. They physically picked him up with that claw, squeezed him, pinned him down, and dropped him. And they left him there to find his own help,” said the family’s attorney, Stephanie Rivas. he told Fox19.
Tyrah Adams was in a trash-filled alley when a Louisville Public Works garbage truck picked her up, causing fatal blunt force and compression trauma (Wave3)
The Jefferson County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that Adams died from blunt force trauma and compression trauma from the garbage truck. His death was listed as an accident according to Courier-Journal.
A Public Works spokesman said two garbage truck workers were placed on leave. Wave3 reported.
Independent He requested comment from Louisville Metro Public Works, the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office and Stephanie Rivas’ office.
But Adams’ family wants more answers as to why the 35-year-old has not been seen.
A police report obtained by Wave3 revealed that the person operating the truck’s crane picked up the pile of trash, put it back in place, and got up from his seat to look at the pile. However, the operator then got into the driver’s seat and pulled the truck forward.
“That’s where a lot of my anger comes from, knowing that they didn’t help him at all,” Adams’ sister Sandra Akers told Fox19.
“Knowing what he was doing and what he saw, he didn’t even have the decency to help,” Akers added.
According to the information obtained, Adams collapsed in the doorway after going to the market.
Rivas said he believes Adams’ family was not provided with all available information.
A garbage crane similar to the one used in the Louisville incident accidentally lifted a 35-year-old woman, according to the city (Getty Images)
Rivas told Louisville Public Media He said Adams’ family had not seen the footage from an outside-facing camera mounted on the truck or from nearby security cameras. He also claimed that his investigators inspected the truck and found that an interior camera had been “covered up.”
“They had to get out of the truck to operate this equipment, but if they had taken the extra step they needed to and surveyed the area, they would have found Tyrah,” Rivas said. Louisville Public Media. “This was completely avoidable on their part.”
