A 71-year-old vehicle maintenance operator died Monday afternoon in southeast Baltimore after the vehicle he was working on shifted into neutral, rolled backward, and struck him during roadside maintenance. The fatal crash happened in the 900 block of South Kresson Street, where responding officers arrived and learned about the roadside maintenance incident.
According to WBFF, officers were sent to the scene after a reported deadly crash. The Baltimore Police Department said the man had been performing roadside maintenance on the vehicle when it slipped into neutral and rolled backward into him. Medical personnel arrived and attempted life-saving measures, but the operator was pronounced dead at the scene.
Investigators Seek Witnesses to Kresson Street Crash
Baltimore's Traffic Investigation Unit has taken over the case and is working to piece together exactly how the vehicle came to shift into neutral before it rolled. Investigators are asking anyone who witnessed the crash or has relevant information to call Traffic Investigation Unit detectives at 410-396-2606, per the station's report.
Those who wish to remain anonymous can instead reach out to Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7LOCKUP, the same report notes. No further details about the victim, his employer, or the vehicle involved have been released as the investigation continues.
Reporting Rules Apply When a Worker Dies on the Job
Under Maryland law, employers must notify the state's Occupational Safety and Health office, known as MOSH, within eight hours whenever a worker is killed on the job or three or more workers are hospitalized, and within 24 hours for an in-patient hospitalization, an amputation involving bone or cartilage loss, or loss of an eye, according to the Maryland Department of Labor. It remains unclear whether this death has been classified as a workplace fatality subject to that reporting requirement.
The circumstances echo, in broad terms, other roadside maintenance incidents involving moving vehicles, including a case in Fairfield, Connecticut, where a highway maintenance worker was struck and killed, as reported by News 12 Connecticut. No broader Baltimore-specific or statewide trend involving vehicles rolling over workers has been established in connection with Monday's crash.
