Construction worker injured near docks downtown

Published 9:10 am Monday, September 23, 2019

A construction worker with Trucano Construction Corporation was injured at a work site in downtown Juneau Monday afternoon after someone drove through a barrier at the downtown public library parking garage, authorities say.

Juneau police officers and medics with Capital City Fire/Rescue responded to the scene at the Archipelago Lot Project near the cruise ship docks at about 12:30 p.m. The injured worker, whose name was not immediately released, was identified only as a 50-year-old man.

Police said a black 2008 Ford Explorer SUV drove through a barrier on the bottom floor of the library’s parking lot, breaking through to the adjacent work site, police said.

“The driver was parking when his foot slipped from the brake pedal, to the gas pedal, accelerating the vehicle forward,” JPD Lt. Krag Campbell wrote in a police release. “… The construction worker was welding on the I-beam that was laying down, directly in front of where the vehicle broke through the barrier. The force of the impact knocked the I-beam over, and onto the worker’s lower legs.”

The car went from a dead stop to full acceleration before breaking through the barrier, said security guard Zachary Tullier, who witnessed the event.

CCFR Assistant Chief Ed Quinto said on scene that the worker was trapped beneath the beam. The man’s co-workers used a forklift to lift the beam off him and pull him out, Tullier said.

The injured worker was conscious and breathing when he was taken from the construction site, said JPD Sgt. Jason Van Sickle. The man was taken to Bartlett Regional Hospital.

The 76-year-old driver was not injured, Quinto said. Police said there were no visible signs of alcohol or drug impairment.

The construction site shut down for the day, and police said the investigation is still ongoing.