CONSTRUCTION WORKER KILLED ON JOB; CEMENT TRUCK PINS MAN AGAINST RIG.

Byline: Lisa Van Proyen Daily News Staff Writer

A Palmdale father of six was crushed to death early Friday in Agua Dulce, smashed against his cement truck by another rig after the driver - a longtime friend of the victim - failed to apply his emergency brake.

The death of Marshall Rogers, 52, brought fellow construction workers - and a Highway Patrol officer who knew the man - to tears.

``I tried to tell Marshall, `Look out,' but he didn't hear,'' said Steven Scott Yost, a concrete pumper at the site, who added that the noise from the running trucks churning materials muffled his voice.

``He was just doing his job. He had no warning. It was so bizarre,'' said Yost, who ran to call 911 and then freed Rogers from between the trucks after someone backed up the truck.

Rogers was washing off the back of his truck when a cement truck filled with 18 tons of material rolled toward him, officials said. The trucks were dumping cement at a site near Sierra Highway for a room addition.

Trucker Billy Ray McDonald, 59, of Quartz Hill, who had known Rogers for decades, failed to set his parking brake when he stepped out of his rig to talk with his boss, said CHP Officer Lewis Hall.

The unoccupied truck, parked on a slight incline about 25 feet back from the first truck, crept up on Rogers by surprise, Hall said.

Rogers apparently heard the truck hit a part of his own rig, turned around, but was pinned against his Mack truck, and lifted about 2 feet off the ground, witnesses said.

``They were the best of friends. They worked together very good,'' said Bill Oren, shop manager for Curtis Sand and Gravel in Canyon Country. ``That was a hell of a strain on (McDonald). He couldn't talk. He sat and cried and cried and cried by the truck.''

Though Rogers was pronounced dead at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital, witnesses said he was dead at the scene shortly after the 6:30 a.m. accident. Several co-workers tried to save him, as did a firefighter who lives in the neighborhood.

McDonald was just two weeks from retirement, officials said. McDonald and Rogers were good friends and had worked together for at least 20 years, Oren said. Both men were the most senior of the 20 truck drivers at Curtis, he said.

McDonald was not cited, but Hall said the accident remains under investigation.

The company's owner, Ben Curtis, said he sees no wrongdoing.

``We don't see that (McDonald) did anything wrong. It was just an accident. Mistakes are made,'' Curtis said.

California Occupational Safety and Health Administration officials are also investigating to determine whether to cite the employer for possibly not complying with workplace safety rules.

Curtis Sand and Gravel officials said this incident marks the first fatality in the company's 25 years in California.

An unidentified CHP officer who responds to truck accidents fought back tears after hearing the news about Rogers - a Hart High School graduate who friends and co-workers described as jovial, hard-working and loving family man, who enjoyed fishing with his wife Carol and their six kids.

One of his daughters is scheduled to graduate from high school next week, a co-worker noted.

Even the toughest construction workers at the site Friday broke out in tears, hiding their swollen eyes behind sunglasses.

``All morning, behind tears, we're remembering how we always enjoyed seeing him,'' said Bill Haig, the owner of a concrete pumping company. ``He did a good job on this Earth. He's a good family man. I didn't know anybody who didn't like him.''

CAPTION(S):

Photo

Photo: (color) Marshall Rogers

Pinned between trucks