Dump Truck Kills Seat Pleasant Construction Worker

Authorities in Prince George's County today identified the worker killed last night at a construction site in the Seat Pleasant area as a 59-year-old Landover resident.

Walter E. Izzard of the 3500 block of Hubbard Road was crushed when a dump truck loaded with asphalt backed over him in the 6300 block of Central Avenue, police said. He was pronounced dead a short time later at Prince George's Hospital Center.

County police said Izzard was wearing a fluorescent safety vest. They said it appeared that no one was guiding the dump truck toward the paving machine when Izzard was struck.

Izzard was a subcontractor working on a $2.3 million state contract to repave Route 214 from Cindy Lane to the District line, officials said. The project began last summer and is scheduled to be completed in August.

In a statement, the Maryland State Highway Administration said it was "deeply saddened by the tragic loss of one of our contractor's workers."

"Highway construction is dangerous work, with workers killed at a rate nearly three times as high as other construction workers and eight times as high as general industry workers," the statement said. "This is all the more reason for all highway users to use caution in and around highway work zones."

The accident remains under investigation, police said.