The pickup Burton was driving is recovered from the lake last Monday. Via: NOLA.comAs a road construction crew worked last week along the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in New Orleans, a garbage truck barreled through the work zone and rammed into the back of a pickup following along behind workers.
According to a report from NOLA.com, the pickup was hit so hard it was knocked over the railing of the bridge and into the lake. The driver, Edward Burton, 57, was killed. He worked for Traffic Solutions Inc.
In absorbing the hit, Burton was doing his job. He was driving the truck slowly behind a group of co-workers doing striping and signage work to provide a buffer between them and the traffic passing by on the afternoon of November 3 in the event that a vehicle should get too close to them.
The truck was even designed to withstand rear impacts but the force of the garbage truck was too much. After hitting Burton’s truck, the garbage truck flipped and hit a police car in front of the pickup before catching fire.
A worker jumped into the lake to save Burton but could not find him. Rescue crews recovered his body from the lake about an hour and a half after the accident.
The driver likely faces multiple charges.
