A homeless Kentucky woman sleeping in an alley was allegedly scooped up and crushed to death by a garbage truck claw during a “routine cleanup” — and her heartbroken family wants answers from the city of Louisville.
For weeks, city officials told family members that Tyrah Adams, 35, had just “come in contact” on Feb. 12 with the Metro solid waste truck and her death was a “tragic loss.”
Five days after Adams’ death, Mayor Craig Greenburg said the crew didn’t see Adams, who was “in some of this garbage that was picked up and moved to another location … while she did leave the scene of where the garbage was then put down, she ultimately died and that is certainly a tragic loss,” local news outlet WDRB reported.
But the story is more gruesome than that, said family attorney Stephanie Rivas, who plans to file a lawsuit against the city, according to WAVE.
“She didn’t walk into this truck,” said Rivas. “They physically picked her up with that claw, squeezed her, compressed her and dropped her. And left her there to find her own help.
“No one went out and inspected the area where they were gathering up this trash. If they had just done that, they would have seen her. They wouldn’t have picked her up.”
Incredibly, Adams got up on her own, staggered into a nearby convenience store and collapsed in the doorway.
A shocked store clerk and a customer called 911, police said.
“She had blood coming from her nose and mouth, she was unable to speak and disoriented, then that that’s obviously when she collapsed and EMS transferred her to UofL [Hospital],” said her sister, Sandra Akers, WBRD said.
Witnesses later told police that the trash grappler operator got out of the crane after Adams fell to the ground, looked at the pile of garbage and returned to the vehicle.
“Why didn’t you go over there and look? Wouldn’t you? And when you realized what happened, why didn’t you follow her into the store? Why didn’t you call?” said Akers, who noted her sister was struggling with addiction.
But Greenberg claimed the crew did not see Adams, according to local news reports.
The Louisville Metro Police Public Integrity Unit is leading the investigation due to a city vehicle being involved in the incident, WDRB said.
The Jefferson County Coroner confirmed on April 8 that Adams died from blunt force and compressional trauma.
Detectives assigned to the department’s Public Integrity Unit reviewed footage from three cameras and confirmed earlier witness reports that said the truck’s driver got out of the vehicle, observed the scene and returned to the vehicle, WAVE said.
The Public Works employees involved were put on administrative leave.
“I think that mostly everything is definitely questionable, I just want answers, I want to have justice for her,” said Akers.