Three confirmed dead in garbage truck crash

By MICHAEL RODRIGUEZ
Managing Editor
editor@sbnewspaper.com

San Benito News photo by Michael Rodriguez The scene of an accident involving a City of Harlingen garbage truck and a red pickup truck is shown Tuesday in the vicinity of FM 509 and Russell Lane, located along the boundary of Harlingen and San Benito city limits.

San Benito News photo by Michael Rodriguez
The scene of an accident involving a City of Harlingen garbage truck and a red pickup truck is shown Tuesday in the vicinity of FM 509 and Russell Lane, located along the boundary of Harlingen and San Benito city limits.

HARLINGEN – At least three people, one of whom is believed to be a teenage boy, are confirmed dead in an accident involving a pickup truck that collided with a City of Harlingen garbage truck just outside San Benito city limits.

It was before 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 31, when first responders from multiple local law enforcement and emergency agencies converged on Russell Lane and FM 509, across from the San Benito IDEA Academy campus, in hopes of rescuing all involved in the collision. Sergeant David Osborne of the Harlingen Police Department, however, said it became apparent that the crash was fatal as authorities eventually recovered the bodies of two adult males and a teenage boy described as being 14 or possibly 15 years of age—all of whom were occupants of the red pickup truck.

“We initially started with a search and rescue operation trying to determine if there was anybody that possibly survived the crash,” Osborne said at the scene of the accident. “Unfortunately, it turned into a recovery and cleanup operation.”

Assistant Operations Chief Michael Galvan of the San Benito Police Department, one of seven agencies assisting HPD, confirmed that the occupants of the red pickup truck resided in Harlingen.

HPD investigators were also assisted by Harlingen and San Benito fire fighters, deputies with the Cameron County Sheriff’s Department, troopers with the Texas Department of Public Safety and emergency medical technicians. “This is a multi-jurisdictional cooperation effort,” the sergeant added. “These vehicles overturned with garbage and refuse in the roadway.”

Osborne said investigators have thus far surmised that the garbage truck, an 18-wheeler hauling a full load, was traveling southbound on FM 509 while the red pickup was headed north on the same road.

“At some point, we believe—with the information we have from our witnesses—that the (red pickup) truck tried to make a turn to the left, and when they turned left they pulled in front of that semi truck and a collision occurred,” Osborne said before stressing that the investigation remains in the preliminary stages. “We’ll continue to investigate this case. We do have an accident reconstruction team on scene from Harlingen and they are here to do all the measurements and reconstruct the entire accident.

“We did call in state troopers as well because it does involve a city vehicle, and the state is here to assist our officers in making sure that everything has been measured and done the way it should be done.”

The condition of the other passengers involved, including the driver of the garbage truck, was unclear as of 5 p.m. Tuesday.

For an update on this story, pick up a copy of the Jan. 5 edition of the San Benito News, or subscribe to our E-Edition by clicking here.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.sbnewspaper.com/2013/12/31/three-confirmed-dead-in-garbage-truck-crash/

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.