Woman Killed When Gravel Truck Overturns Onto Car Outside Martinez Home

MARTINEZ (CBS SF) - A woman inside a car in the driveway of a Martinez home was killed Monday when a gravel truck overturned onto it Monday, according to authorities.

It happened at 1:05 p.m. near the intersection of Shell Avenue and Pine Street.

Chopper 5 captured video showing the bed of the truck raised as if to dump a load of gravel at the location, however the raised section toppled onto the driveway of a home where a car was located.

A city construction project was underway when the gravel hauler lost its load at the 800 block of Shell Avenue. The back end of the hauler fell directly onto the small car, crushing most of it.

A contractor on the site told a KPIX 5 reporter a worker was helping the woman pull out of her driveway so the gravel truck driver could move in and unload the 20 tons of gravel. As he was motioning her to pull out, the gravel shifted and made the truck overturn, crushing the car.

"It sounded like two cars hit each other going 80 miles an hour. All I could hear was the car horn going for a minute or so, said neighbor Travis Hagerthy. "I came out in my robe with a fire extinguisher, and I saw the truck laying on the car and they were working on the sidewalk, trying to get her out of the car and told them to get the back hoe ... ripped the door off and that's when the cops pulled up, took her pulse and determined she was dead."

KPIX 5 has learned the victim's four-year-old daughter was also in the driveway and witnessed the accident.

The work was part of a city effort to add sidewalks to streets and neighborhoods near schools.