Authorities ID Victim In Brooklyn Park Trench Collapse
BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. (WCCO) – Authorities have identified the construction worker who died Wednesday after a wall of dirt caved in on him.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner identified the man Thursday as 53-year-old Jerome Thomas Bruce of Cambridge.
The incident happened around 9 a.m. Wednesday at the Public Storage on 8000 block Lakeland Avenue in Brooklyn Park. According to officials, Bruce was doing water-proofing work on a building foundation at the bottom of a trench. The trench was about eight feet deep, and with almost no warning, the wall of dirt above him collapsed, burying Bruce up to his shoulders. He was pronounced dead at 9:45 a.m.
He was trapped for about 20 minutes and went into cardiac arrest, officials said. The medical examiner's office determined that Bruce died from multiple blunt force injuries and that it was accidental.
