Police identify worker who died in Lakeville trench
Lakeville police have identified a man who died Tuesday in a trench accident.
Gerald Lyle Thompson, 51, of Apple Valley, Minn., died when trench walls collapsed on him as he worked to install drain tile at a new home in Lakeville.
Rescue efforts took about four hours as police and Dakota County emergency responders worked to reach Thompson in the 8-foot deep trench.
Lakeville police received a call about 3:45 p.m. that a man was trapped in a trench at 179th Street West and Hyde Park Avenue. Police say he was working with his brother.
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Thompson's brother and other workers from a nearby construction site tried to rescue him, said Deputy Chief John Kornmann of the Lakeville Police Department.
"One of the things that makes a tragic scene even worse is the man running the backhoe was the victim's brother," Kornmann said.
Police said a firefighter was lowered on a backhoe to check Thompson's vital signs and found no heartbeat.
"At that point it went from a rescue mission to a recovery mission," Kornmann said.
When the collapsing walls of the trench created a dangerous situation, emergency responders dug out the area around the trench to recover Thompson's body.