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James D. Hughes

55

James Dennis Hughes

8/21/1938 - 1/9/1997

Worker killed by salt truck

Area covered by 3 inches of snow; another 3 to 5 expected

A state highway department employee died early Thursday following a freak accident at the state highway substation at Indiana 1 and Interstate 70.

An Indiana Department of Transportation salt truck apparently backed over the worker around 7:15 a.m. Thursday, according to the Wayne County Sheriff. Police were still on the scene at 9 a.m. The Sheriff refused to release the name of the worker, pending notification of his family, the Sheriff said the worker was dead at the scene.

"Apparently, he just didn't see the salt truck coming," the Sheriff said. "He might have had his back to the truck. All I've got is a preliminary report from the scene."

Source: Richmond Palladium-Item 1/9/97

Many shaken by worker's death

No one witnessed salt truck accident

Word spread quickly Thursday about the accidental death of state highway worker James D. Hughes.

"Somebody called my wife and said, 'Did you know Jim Hughes is dead?,'" said the owner of a company where Hughes worked for five years before joining the Indiana Department of Transportation as a truck driver. "He was a heck of a good guy and a good driver, easy on the truck and no arguments whatsoever," he said. "I just can't believe it."

Hughes, 58, was killed around 7:30 a.m. Thursday when a salt truck driver by another driver backed over him at the INDOT substation at Indiana 1 and Interstate 70 near Cambridge City. The driver was not charged in the accident.

Hughes had been plowing and salting roads since 10 p.m. Wednesday and had come in to get another load of salt, said the INDOT operations foreman for the Centerville subdistrict.

The driver had just gotten a load of salt and was backing out of the holding area when he ran over Hughes, the foreman said. "We're just in shock over it," he said. "We really don't have an answer as to why and don't know how it could have been prevented." The foreman was at the Centerville INDOT office on U.S. 40 when he got a call and raced to the scene.

Hughes, who had worked for INDOT on a part-time basis since May and full-time since November, was pronounced dead at the scene. A Major with the Wayne County Sheriff's Department said no witnesses saw the accident, but he added the backup alarm in the driver's truck was working. "We can only speculate that Hughes did not hear the alarm," he said. "The driver of the truck realized he hit something and got out."

"He assumed that the other driver was still in his truck," the foreman said. "He backed all the way up to let the next truck in. I think he thought he backed over a pile of snow or dirt. He didn't realize what had happened until he saw (Hughes') orange hat."

The foreman said the driver was distraught after the accident. "We called his wife and parents, and they came and got him after the investigation," he said. "I don't think he'll be working (Thursday night)."

The foreman, too, said Hughes was a terrific worker. "He was a real good guy - real good to work with, real friendly," he said. "It's real somber around here now."

The foreman said Hughes was the first worker from the Centerville district to be killed since a construction worker was hit by a semi-tractor trailer in 1992. An INDOT spokeswoman in Indianapolis said the death was the third for INDOT road workers in the last two years. The other two were construction workers. "It's awful, I think the word (of the death) is spreading pretty rapidly around the state", she said. "We've had three fatalities and one other serious injury. It's really hitting our workers pretty hard." "We've had construction accidents, but this is so different," she said. "I don't know what to say."

Source: Richmond Palladium-Item 1/10/97