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April 15, 2008

Providence man dies after being pinned under truck

PROVIDENCE -- A man died today after he was crushed by a truck when the jack being used to prop it up slipped, public safety officials said.

“There were two guys working on a pickup truck and somehow there was a mishap and the truck fell on the chest of one of the men,” said Fire Department Acting Battalion Chief David Soscia.

The police identified the victim as Jairo Rivas, 43, of 30 Lucy St. The accident occurred shortly before 11 a.m. in the driveway of a house at 73 Salina St., at the corner of Berkshire Street in the Wanskuck neighborhood.

Soscia said that when emergency services workers arrived at the scene, the truck had been propped up again. Rivas was pulled out from beneath the truck and placed on a backboard, and a neck collar was attached to him. Medical technicians performed CPR because he was not breathing, Soscia said.

In the rescue truck, he said, the technicians were able to restore a tentative heartbeat but were unable to sustain it. A faltering heartbeat was restored again at Rhode Island Hospital, but then Rivas was pronounced dead, according to Soscia.

The police said that the full-sized pickup somehow moved forward on the jack and then fell off and pinned Rivas. A witness, Alex Recinos, of 73 Salina, told the police that he saw the driveshaft of the truck resting on Rivas’s chest, that he yelled for help, and that with the assistance of two neighbors, he was able to get the truck jacked up again.

-- Journal staff writer Gregory Smith

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 5:57 PM | Permalink

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Marina | June 12, 2008 1:01 PM link

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