Sanitation worker killed after falling beneath wheels of his truck

NEW YORK (WABC) - Officials say a New York sanitation worker was killed after he fell out of his truck's cab and slipped beneath the wheels.

Stunned family members embraced one another, struggling to come to terms with the loss of Richard Errico, a 54-year-old sanitation worker in Queens. He was killed instantly after officials say he tumbled out of the cab and slipped beneath the wheels of a 65,000-pound sanitation truck.

Errico was on-duty and alone at the time of the accident, which officials say happened shortly before 6 p.m. Saturday. The sanitation worker was attempting a U-turn outside the Sanitation Department's Queens East garage.

Why Errico fell from the truck was not immediately clear, but sanitation workers routinely operate with the doors to the cab wide open because they get in and out of the trucks so often.

City Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch consoled the victim's relatives before briefing Mayor Eric Adams, who arrived on the scene to meet with family members and to get an update on the investigation.

"Our department mourns the loss of sanitation worker Richard Errico, a 19-year veteran," said Tisch in a statement. "He did it proudly. I ask all New Yorkers to pray for his family."

The investigation is being conducted by the New York Police Department's Collision Investigation Squad, which is routine.