A man in Fredericksburg, Virginia who was working underneath a tractor trailer on Nov. 11 was killed after the driver moved the truck and was unaware that the mechanic had commenced work underneath the rig.

John Patterson, 54, was pronounced dead at the scene – 8509 Jefferson Davis Highway.

Virginia State Police stated that the rig’s driver had talked to Patterson about a mechanical problem with the truck. The driver went into the truck and started to move the truck to a different area of the parking lot. He did not know that Patterson had started to work on the problem.

The truck accident victim was run over by the rear wheels of the truck.

Our View

Our hearts go out the family in this tragic truck accident. Our truck accident personal injury attorneys have seen these types of tragic mishaps happen before.

In the Virginia CDL manual, the point is made over and over again that truck drivers need to be fully aware of what is going on around their vehicle at all times. This normally involves making sure that they know what is happpening in front of them, to the sides and the back. However, when a truck is being serviced, communicating with the service staff is obviously extremely important.

If the truck driver and the truck repair shop had had a third party there to make sure that everything was being done safely and by the rules, the mechanic probably would have never been in that situation.

In truck accidents with a fatality, the worst part obviously is that a person has needlessly lost their life, and the family is devastated. Another problem is that the person often was a primary breadwinner in the family. What is the family supposed to do to survive? A wrongful death lawsuit against the trucking company could be the answer.

We have had many wrongful death judgements and verdicts worth millions of dollars in the past. Those funds have been used to help the family to support themselves and put their lives back together.