A Stanislaus County Public Works employee was killed Thursday afternoon while cleaning out this manhole on Claribel Road west of the Oakdale-Waterford Highway. Patty Guerra pguerra@modbee.com
June 24, 2016
By Erin Tracy
etracy@modbee.com
A Stanislaus County Public Works employee was killed Thursday afternoon while cleaning out a manhole on Claribel Road west of the Oakdale-Waterford Highway.
Russell Scott Atchinson, 58, of Modesto was alone and on his hands and knees over the manhole on Claribel when he was hit by a GMC Sierra pickup, said California Highway Patrol Lt. J.D. Frost.
The driver, 66-year-old John Masellis of Hughson, had just crested the top of a slight rise in the road over the Claribel Lateral Canal when he spotted Atchinson in the road.
Atchinson looked up at him and Masellis applied the brakes, but it was was too late for either to avoid the accident. Atchinson died at the scene.
“We are extremely saddened by the tragic loss of one of our Public Works employees, Russell Atchinson,” said Patricia Hill Thomas, the county’s chief operations officer. “We are in shock and are grieving. Our deepest and sincerest sympathies go to his family, friends and to his employee family here at Stanislaus County.”
David Jones, spokesman for Stanislaus County, said Atchinson was a senior engineering/surveying technician for the county who was hired in December 2011. He deferred any further comment to the CHP.
Frost would not say if Atchinson put out cones or signage signaling drivers that he was working in the road, citing the ongoing investigation.
Masellis stayed at the scene and cooperated with officers. Drugs and alcohol are not believed to have been factors in the incident.
Frost said Claribel was closed between Albers and the Oakdale-Waterford Highway for about three hours while officers and officials from the California Occupational Health and Safety Administration investigated.