Construction worker killed after being struck by large pipe in west Bexar County identified

Cody King, Digital Journalist

Katrina Webber, Crime Fighters Reporter

Alexis Montalbo, Photojournalist

Matthew Craig, Photojournalist

SAN ANTONIO – Update (April 16, 2023):

A construction worker who was killed after being hit by a large steel pipe that fell off of an 18-wheeler on Saturday has been identified by the Bexar County Medical Examiner.

Carlos Hernandez-Alvarez, 52, died from blunt and crush injuries, according to the ME.

Another worker was also injured in the shoulder and taken to an area hospital. Details on his condition are unknown.

Original:

A construction worker is dead and another is hospitalized after both of them were hit by a large steel pipe that fell off of an 18-wheeler in west Bexar County, the sheriff’s office confirms.

The incident happened just after noon on Saturday, in the 12100 block of W Military Drive.

Construction workers for Badeco were contracting with CPS Energy to install gas lines on the side of the road and several pipes were stacked on top of an 18-wheeler at the scene.

When the workers went to unload the pipes, they became unstable and one of the pipes struck a 52-year-old man working at the site in the head, BCSO said.

He died at the scene, according to Sgt. Trace Shannon. The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office is working to positively identify him.

“They were unloading the load of pipes. At some time during that point, the load became unstable,” said Sgt. Trace Shannon with BCSO. “As far as how it occurred and what exactly happened, that’s still under investigation.”

One worker estimated that each of the pipes could weigh more than a ton.

Another worker was hit in the shoulder by the pipe and was taken to an area hospital for treatment. His age and his identity also haven’t been released.

“It’s just heartbreaking. We see them all the time, you know, coming and going, working every day,” Monica Solis, whose home is just a few yards from the construction site.

Solis said she and her family were on an outing when the accident happened.

The commotion they found as they headed home, though, caught the attention of her children.

They noticed patrol cars blocking off several streets in their neighborhood. “They wondered what was going on, why we couldn’t get home,” she said. “I just told them an accident happened.”

The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office also told the Occupational Safety and Health Administration {OSHA,) the federal agency that investigates workplace accidents, about the construction incident.

Investigators with that agency arrived on the scene a short time later.

It is unclear what they found during their investigation or how long they planned to keep the construction site closed.

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