Published: August 23, 2008 07:26 pm      

Truck driver killed after three days on job

KEYSTONE — A McDowell County coal truck driver died late Friday night when he jumped from his truck after being unable to downshift effectively to slow his truck as he was traveling down a hill, state police said.

Danny Lee Jones, 38, of Bradshaw, was on his third day of hauling coal for B&O Trucking at the Bluestone Coal Co., mine on Burke Mountain, according to Trooper M.S. Horton of the Welch Detachment of the West Virginia State Police.

“He started down an incline, and tried to get his truck in a lower gear to slow him down some, but left the truck in neutral when he couldn’t get it in gear and jumped out,” Horton said. “The truck ran over him.”

Horton said the incline went up a knoll “like a natural truck ramp,” and said that the truck sustained damage to the front axle when it came to a stop. The accident occurred at about 11 p.m. Jones was pronounced dead at the scene.

According to Horton, mine inspectors with the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration as well as the West Virginia Office of Miners Health, Safety and Training were on the scene investigating the accident late Friday and early Saturday morning.

MSHA did not have an on-line posting concerning the accident on its web site late Saturday afternoon and the state office of Miners Health, Safety and Training in Charleston and Welch did not immediately return voice mail messages late Saturday afternoon seeking comment.

– Contact Bill Archer at barcher@bdtonline.com