Anchorage police responded to the 5200-block of Caribou Avenue on Thursday morning in reference to a fatal accident involving a Blue Arctic Waste garbage truck driver they report.

Witnesses to the accident administered CPR on the driver until medics arrived on the scene but he was pronounced deceased shortly thereafter.

APD opened an investigation at the scene that determined that the garbage truck driver had been picking up garbage cans at the location when the mishap occurred. APD reports, “The driver lowered the trash truck’s arm but was unable to lift the can due to the can being frozen in the ice.”

To attempt to free the container, the driver got out of the vehicle. He was standing next to it when the truck began to slide on the ice. Unfortunately, the extended arm knocked over the driver and he fell beneath the vehicle as it was sliding.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) responded to the scene along with APD officers from Patrol and the Major Investigations Unit to investigate the untimely death.

The driver’s identity is being withheld pending next of kin notification.

  accident, blue arctic waste, crushed, deceased, driver, ice, truck