BONNEY LAKE, Wash. — Construction worker interview gives new details in fatal Bonney Lake overpass accident.
A construction worker, interviewed by police the day a concrete barrier fell from an overpass killing a family of three, said the accident happened suddenly as a crew member was sawing the barrier into smaller sections for removal.
See photos of the family here.
"He had just finished his bottom cut and it just fell," said Ralph Stuhr, an excavator operator who was watching the work as he waited to pull the cut up sections off overpass of State Route 410 at Angeline Road in Bonney Lake.
KIRO 7 filed a public disclosure request with the city of Bonney Lake and obtained a video copy of the statement and interview Stuhr gave to Puyallup police detective Ken Lewis, who was aiding Bonney Lake's investigation of the April 13 incident that killed Josh Ellis, his wife Vanessa and their infant son Hudson.
A large portion of the barrier fell into the family's pickup truck as they headed northbound on Angeline road. The Ellis family was crushed to death.
"I was in complete shock," Sturh said during the interview.
Stuhr gave the statement voluntarily and no criminal charges have been filed in connection with the accident. In the 14-minute interview Stuhr described to how the crew was working to remove the barrier to make way for a new wider sidewalk, cutting out a bottom portion before cutting the barrier into small sections when it suddenly gave way.
"It just fell away," said Stuhr. "And I kind of stood back and I heard a great big, like thunder crunch, it landing on the concrete below or something. They I could hear a horn blaring and I looked over the edge and it was just flat across the cab of the pickup."
Stuhr said seconds after the barrier fell members of the crew rushed to Angeline road beneath the highway to see the truck's cab completely crushed.
"You know there's nothing you can do, just pray for the people that are in the truck. All you can do," Stuhr said.
Lewis asked Stuhr what he thought could have caused the barrier to fall even though the crew thought they could cut it into sections and remove it safely. Stuhr responded that he didn't want to speculate why, but said the workers thought they could cut through a portion of seam where the barrier was tied to the bridge with reinforce steel bars and concrete, leaving part of the joint to hold the barrier as it was cut into small sections and removed safely.
KIRO