It was early Thursday morning around 7 am when 17-year-old Jon Tavares hit a worker standing behind his dump truck with his Honda Civic. The worker was loading trash into the truck. The driver of the truck was sitting in the truck at the time of the accident.
The worker was transported by ambulance to a high school athletic field and then airlifted to a local hospital. His leg was severely injured and had to be amputated from the knee down.
The Honda driver was not wearing a seatbelt. He too was injured when he hit his car’s windshield.
Behind the Honda was another car whose driver became a witness to the accident. She actually tied a tourniquet around the worker’s leg which may have saved his life.
It is still not clear what caused the accident but there are some theories as to what may have been a factor in the collision. That early in the morning there was some sun glare. Also the dump truck had a strobe light flashing at the top in the back, but the truck did not turn on its hazard lights.
Tavares was charged with driving “to endanger and failing to use care in stopping.”
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