HERO Operator Killed in Atlanta Highway Accident
It’s always painful to Atlanta car accident lawyers to come across law enforcement personnel who are killed in accidents on the job. A 45-year-old Highway Emergency Response Operator (HERO) unit operator was killed on Monday, after his HERO unit was hit by a truck. The victim was attending to a stranded motorist on Interstate 85 south of Atlanta, when a truck pulling a trailer with heavy equipment crashed into his HERO unit. The truck hit the victim, and also struck the stranded pickup truck.
The HERO unit operator was killed, while the driver of the stranded pickup truck managed to escape the truck as it approached. According to the Georgia Department of Transportation, this was the first death of a Highway Emergency Response Operator while on duty, since the program's inception in 1995. According to the Georgia State Patrol, charges are likely to be filed against the driver of the truck.
Investigations into the accident are going on. These are likely to look at the speed of the truck driver in this accident
My heart goes out to the family of this man. According to the victim's family, his lifelong dream was to be a part of law enforcement, and becoming part of the HERO unit had been dream come true for him. It's always sad when we have law-enforcement officers, who are out there putting their lives on the line for our safety, injured or killed in the line of duty.
Specific mention must be made here of the HERO operators who do dangerous, and often deadly work, for the public good. The HERO unit operator here was helping a stranded motorist in need. Any HERO operator, who responds to a stranded motorist on a busy highway, is aware of the kind of risks his job entails, but he does his job anyway.
