1 driver killed, 2 hospitalized in separate dump truck rollovers

NORTH SALT LAKE — Two people were injured after a runaway dump truck rolled and crashed into another vehicle Wednesday morning.

The driver was hospitalized. Another dump truck driver was killed Tuesday in Provo in an unrelated rollover.

About 8:15 a.m. Wednesday, the driver of a dump truck hauling a load of dirt down steep Eagle Ridge Drive lost control of his vehicle, said North Salt Lake Police Lt. Troy Johnson. A preliminary investigation showed the brakes failed, he said.

The driver tried to slow the truck by down shifting, but it picked up speed near the bottom of the hill, Johnson said. Near 39 E. Eagle Ridge Drive, the large vehicle went over the curb, took out some landscaping, and rolled onto a pickup truck in the parking lot. A man was sitting in the truck when he saw the larger construction vehicle headed his way, Johnson said.

The man got out and tried to run away but was struck while trying to escape, according to co-workers. He was being treated at a local hospital Wednesday for a broken pelvic bone, according to a co-worker.

The 45-year-old dump truck driver was trapped in his vehicle. It took emergency crews about 30 minutes to get him out. He was transported to a local hospital with back and upper body injuries, Johnson said.

The driver's name was not released Wednesday. The truck was from Spade Excavating in Draper.

• The driver of another dump truck died Tuesday after he swerved off the side of a bridge in Provo and landed upside down on the street below.

The driver, identified Wednesday as 38-year-old Rodney Eldon Shelley, of Salem, was traveling north on University Avenue about 1:15 p.m. when the Sunroc dump truck swerved to the left across other lanes of traffic and began skidding along the barrier, police said.

The truck, loaded with gravel, rode on top of the barrier for about 20 feet before it went over the edge of the bridge near 500 West and landed 25 feet below. Shelley died after being taken to a hospital.

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