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Homeless Man Killed By Garbage Truck Ruled Accidental

November 14, 2005

A homeless man was crushed to death after he was run over by a garbage truck but the accident has been officially declared an accident.

The King County Medical Examiner's Office listed the cause of death to a man identified as Odell Lark Jr., 53, of Missouri, to be blunt-force injuries.

The accident occurred on Monday at about 5 a.m. as the garbage truck was running its regular route. The driver of the truck was a 49-year-old man from Gold Bar, Snohomish County.

In doing the pick-up, the driver pulled up to garbage bins outside the Red Lion Bellevue Inn, 100 114th Ave. S.E., opened the dumpster area gates, and drove his truck forward to attach the garbage container.

According to police, Lark was in a trash container in the parking lot when it was hoisted over the truck cab into a disposal area at the rear of the truck.

The driver then replaced the container, closed the gates to the area, and began leaving the parking lot. The driver stopped the truck when it felt like he had hit something.

Police were still in the process of conducting the investigation as to why Lark was in the dumpster. They speculate that he may have been sleeping or scavenging in the dumpster container when it was picked up by the garbage truck.

If Lark been in the container, he possibly had about a minute to try to find a way to get out of the back of the garbage truck as a hydraulic compacting ram was operated to compress the garbage as the truck was moving.

A ladder on the side of the truck leads from the garbage-container area, and it would be the most plausible method for a person to get off the truck.

Traffic was diverted off 114th Avenue Southeast for about four hours as the accident was investigated.