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Truck with attached crane at Florida mall maintenance job flips(South Florida Sun-Sentinel (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ A routine roof maintenance job at The Galleria mall in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., took an unexpected turn Tuesday when a truck with a 100-foot lift flipped over, injuring a 77-year-old worker and blocking two lanes of traffic, authorities said. The unidentified worker, who was operating the boom truck, was taken to Broward General Medical Center, said city spokesman Matt Little. His injuries are not life-threatening, police said. Alex Hernandez, 27, said he and another worker were eating lunch after working on a gas line about a block away when they heard a big bang. Hernandez said the lift nearly hit a passing car. "It hit the tree and then the pavement. It missed a Cadillac by a foot," Hernandez said. One of Hernandez's co-workers immediately called 911. Police responded to the scene at Northeast Ninth Street and Northeast 26th Avenue just before 3 p.m., said police spokeswoman Detective Felicia Barnwell. The overturned boom truck began leaking fuel, which authorities later cleaned up, Little said. The lift bent a lamp post and damaged a palm tree when it toppled over a fence onto Northeast 26th Avenue. Police expected the street to be cleared by late Tuesday night.(EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE) Melissa Milroy, marketing manager of The Galleria, released a written statement late Tuesday: "The accident involving a boom truck, operated by a private roofing contractor, is currently being investigated. We are cooperating however we can, and extend our best wishes to the injured man for a rapid recovery." The boom truck accident is at least the second one in South Florida in the past year. In September, three men in a boom truck received electric shocks while lifting a sign at a Homestead shopping center. Occupational Safety and Health Administration officials were investigating the cause of the accident at The Galleria mall, police said. ___ (South Florida Sun-Sentinel staff researcher Bill Lucey contributed to this report.) ___ (c) 2008, South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Visit the Sun-Sentinel on the World Wide Web at http://www.sun-sentinel.com/ Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. Copyright ? 2008 South Florida Sun-Sentinel |