Police say ‘bad timing’ to blame for fatal CMV vs. pedestrian strike

Police in Pennsylvania say that a truck driver was not at fault in an accident that claimed the life of an 81 year old man.

The fatal accident occurred shortly after 2 p.m. on March 17 in Upper Macungie Township, Pennsylvania.

Police said that a 28 year old truck driver had parked on the southbound shoulder of Route 222 to stop at a local business.

The truck driver left an item inside the store when he went back to his truck. An employee noticed the item and went outside to try to give it back.

“The timing was such that the employee stepped directly in front of the CMV at the same moment the driver began to pull away from where he was parked, resulting in the employee being struck by the CMV. It was determined the area in which the employee was standing at the moment of impact would have been a blind spot for the driver, meaning there was no way the driver could have seen the employee in front of his truck before proceeding to pull away from the shoulder,” Upper Macungie Township police said in a news release.

Gerald Burian, 81, died from blunt force injuries at the scene.

The truck driver stopped as soon as he realized something was wrong and cooperated with police.

“Ultimately, the unfortunate timing of this chain of events is what led to the fatal accident, and as such, there will be no prosecution of the driver of the involved CMV,” police concluded.