Man killed after construction accident in Gwinnett County
Updated: Sep 9, 2016 - 5:49 AM
GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. - The survivor of a deadly Gwinnett County construction accident spoke to Channel 2 Action News Thursday, talking about the actions he took to save his fellow co-workers.
The men were working in a manhole when a gas leak quickly overcame the three workers.
Jerry Davis, 29, died from his injuries sustained in the incident.
"We heard a guy hollerin' for help,” a co-worker who survived the accident said, asking not to be identified.
Not only did the incident kill a fellow construction worker, the incident also seriously injured another.
“We ran down there, not knowing there was gas leak,” the co-worker told Channel 2’s Nicole Carr.
The man was on one of two construction teams prepping a football field at Gwinnett County’s E.E. Robinson Park.
On Tuesday afternoon, he said he and his friend heard Davis' screams and didn't hesitate to go in after him.
“I mean, human nature going to make you go in the hole. I mean I didn't know him from a can of paint,” the co-worker said.
It's unclear how Davis got into the hole, or what the heavy machine operator was doing there, but the survivor said David, who was with another company, wasn't harnessed. The man's friend climbed in first and told him to get a rope to pull Davis out.
“I had just enough strength to get myself out the hole,” the survivor said.
By the time he returned he said the men were overcome by gas.
“It was spur of the moment and it was shocking. It's devastating,” said brother Lee Davis.
Before Carr met the survivor Thursday, she met Davis' family in Gainesville.
They say their brother, who will be buried on Friday, had followed in family members' footsteps, working for Simpson Trucking and Grading for the past 18 months
“And he loved his job,” Lee Davis told Carr.
The family told Carr that the support has been overwhelming, but they just wish there was one more moment to send one more message.
“That I loved him and I'd like to hold his neck one more time,” Lee Davis said.
Authorities never identified the victims in this case, but the survivor told Carr that his friend isn't doing well. He said the other victim is in the hospital and that he can't speak or see.
OSHA confirms they're investigating the case. We've learned they'll be back on site Friday.
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Gainesville man dies following construction incident
Gwinnett incident under investigation after workers found unresponsive
By Nick Watson nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
@NickWatsonTimes POSTED: September 7, 2016 7:15 p.m.
A Gainesville man died Tuesday following a construction incident in Sugar Hill, according to authorities.
William Jerry Davis, 29, died after an incident Tuesday at E.E. Robinson Park on Level Creek Road.
Davis was an employee with Simpson Trucking and Grading in Gainesville.
“He was a super employee,” Simpson Trucking and Grading President Greg Simpson said Wednesday, adding that Davis had worked there for about 18 months collectively.
Simpson said Davis’ death was a “horrible loss” for the company.
Gwinnett County Fire Capt. Tommy Rutledge said firefighters rescued two unresponsive workers from a manhole 25 feet below ground around 1 p.m. Tuesday inside E.E. Robinson Park.
“Both men were part of independent contract companies doing grading and construction work near a football field,” Rutledge wrote in an email.
Citing health privacy laws, Rutledge did not disclose the names or conditions of the workers.
The department sent in a technical rescue team to perform a “confined space rescue operation,” Rutledge said.
“Members of the technical rescue team were able to monitor the air quality and force fresh air into the hole in order to send rescuers down for victim assessment and removal,” Rutledge said.
Both workers were extracted in an hour and transported to Gwinnett Medical Center.
“A third worker who also entered the manhole was able to self-extricate and was out of the hole when the fire department arrived,” Rutledge said.
The situation is under investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. An OSHA representative did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Funeral services are scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday in the chapel of Memorial Park Funeral Home.
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OSHA called in after construction death at Gwinnett park
Worker reportedly died in manhole
By Curt Yeomans
curt.yeomans@gwinnettdailypost.com
An employee of a company that was doing work at E.E. Robinson Park reportedly died on Tuesday after he and a co-worker were trapped in a manhole at the park.
Gwinnett Fire and Emergency Services Deputy Chief Charles Wells said the men were part of an independent contractor’s crew doing grading work near the park’s football field. The county commission agreed to buy the park from the City of Sugar Hill in May.
“Specially trained firefighters from the department’s technical rescue team were called to the scene to perform a confined space rescue operation,” Wells said in an email. “Members of the technical rescue team were able to monitor the air quality and force fresh air into the hole in order to send rescuers down for victim assessment and removal.”
Wells said the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has been called in to handle the situation since it happened at a construction site. He explained the hole where the men were located was about 25-feet below ground. He added a third man had also been in the manhole, but that person had been able to get out on his own before firefighters arrived.
The two men were taken to Gwinnett Medical Center for treatment, where one of them reportedly died.
Wells declined to identify the men who were rescued from the manhole or confirm the nature of their injuries, citing federal patient privacy laws. The Gainesville Times reported on its website on Wednesday, however, that 29-year-old Gainesville resident William Jerry Jackson Davis was one of the men involved, and that he died from his injuries.
An obituary for Davis that ran in the newspaper on Thursday and listed him as dying Tuesday at Gwinnett Medical Center after an accidental death. The obituary said he will be laid to rest on Saturday.
An official at the company Davis worked for, Simpson Trucking and Grading, said they could not confirm whether one of their employees had died as a result of an incident at the park.