Wake County: Sanitation worker killed near Apex identified as William Young, 35

A sanitation worker who died after being hurt by a garbage truck near Apex on Tuesday morning was 35-year-old William Young, the Wake County Sheriff's Office said.

Young worked for the sanitation company involved, according to the sheriff's office, which has called his death a fatal work-related incident. The office said it contacted the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and that the workplace-safety agency also sent people to the scene. No charges have been filed, ABC11 and WRAL reported.

Investigators have not said how Young was hurt.

What the sheriff's office says

Deputies were called at about 9:20 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 6, to a report of an injured person in the 5400 block of Lower Creek Court, a residential street in the Apex area of southwestern Wake County, about 11 miles from downtown Raleigh.

When they arrived, deputies found a man who had been severely injured by a sanitation truck, the sheriff's office said. EMS pronounced him dead at the scene.

By Tuesday afternoon the sheriff's office was describing the death as a fatal work-related incident and said its investigation into the circumstances was underway. It released Young's name and age Tuesday evening.

The sheriff's office has not said whether the truck was moving, whether Young was driving it or working beside it, or what he was doing when he was hurt. It also has not named the company he worked for.

How we got here

Aerial video WRAL recorded Tuesday morning showed a garbage truck and a fire engine parked in a cul-de-sac on Lower Creek Court, with responders standing nearby.

In its first statement early Tuesday afternoon, the sheriff's office confirmed that a man had died after being injured by a sanitation truck, but did not release his name, his age or his employer. We reported the death in our first video that afternoon, when those details were still unknown.

Tuesday evening, the sheriff's office identified the man as Young and said he was an employee of the sanitation company. It also confirmed that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration had responded at its request. We shared those details in an update video early Wednesday.

Some early reports cited emergency radio traffic about how the man was hurt. Officials have not confirmed those accounts, so we are not repeating them here.

Who looks into a workplace death

In North Carolina, workplace-safety law for private employers and state and local government agencies is enforced by the Occupational Safety and Health Division of the N.C. Department of Labor, under the state's own Occupational Safety and Health Act. The division also takes reports of work-related deaths and serious injuries, and it runs a special emphasis program aimed at preventing "struck-by" injuries, where workers are hit by vehicles or equipment.

Officials have not said what kind of review, if any, the workplace-safety agency has opened in Young's death, or how long it might take.

What happens next

The sheriff's office says its investigation is ongoing. Still to come are answers to the main open questions: exactly how the incident happened, which company Young worked for, and what workplace-safety investigators conclude.

We will update this story when the sheriff's office or state labor officials release more information.