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2 workers dead, 2 injured in construction accident in Floyd County

FLOYD COUNTY, Ga. — Two people were killed and two seriously injured at a construction site Tuesday in Floyd County.

Channel 2′s Michele Newell learned that one of the victims was only 19 years old.

Police believe the brakes on one of the construction trucks failed.

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“The driveway for this residence is about one mile long. This incident occurred about half mile up that driveway,” Sgt. Chris Fincher with the Floyd County Police Department said.

“This was a very difficult scene,” Floyd County coroner John Hamilton told Newell.

Investigators say a private driveway replacement project was underway along Old Dalton Road when something went wrong.

One of the workers who was loading asphalt onto a flatbed truck called 911.

“At one point, he turned to go pick up more asphalt. When he came back, he saw the truck was moving forward,” Fincher said.

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The flatbed truck, owned by Cornerstone Concrete, hit a Bobcat. Investigators believe the brakes failed.

The construction site was being operated by Kevin Gurley, Incorporated.

“The truck came into contact with that Bobcat. Both of those pieces of equipment went off the hill, about 50 feet down the embankment into the woods,” Fincher said.

Two workers who were in the Bobcat died. They have been identified as Cody Hauser, 19, and John Hunter Lane, 21.

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Emergency crews were up against hot weather as they worked the scene.

“Working in this hot weather, it’s taken them a while to conduct this operation and to perform,” Fincher said.

“The chief officers that were on scene, there were two of them, they were shuttling back and forth and bringing cold water to the crews that were on the scene,” Hamilton said.

OSHA is at the scene and is now investigating the incident. An OSHA representative told Newell this was a tragic accident, but they don’t have any new details to release because of how fresh the investigation is.

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