A construction crew member laying asphalt on a new track at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School was run over by a truck and killed Tuesday, according to the Berkeley Unified School District and state health workplace officials.
The worker, who has not been identified, was hit about 12:30 p.m. in what dstrict spokesman Mark Coplan described as a tragic accident. Representatives from the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health said he was laying asphalt when the accident occurred.
According to Berkeleyside, it is possible that there was a problem with the truck’s brakes, he added. “People were yelling at him,” Coplan said.
The 62-year-old Livermore man worked for Robert A. Bothman Construction company, according to Cal-OSHA.
Berkeleyside reported that according to OSHA’s database, the company has had only one listed violation since 2003, which resulted in a $300 fine.
Renovation work has been ongoing at the track, which has a street entrance on Hopkins Street between Josephine Street and Colusa Avenue, all summer. Crews have been replacing irrigation and grass in the field to make the track into an all-weather track.
No students were at the North Berkeley school at the time; school starts on Wednesday.
