Construction Worker Shocked When Dump Truck Strikes Power Lines

Donald Hester, 56, of Willow Springs, was in fair condition Wednesday night at the UNC Burn Center. He works for Rae Construction Company.

Officers said Hester, working as a spotter, was standing near a dump truck along U.S. 1 north of Raleigh when the truck driver hit a power transformer just after midnight.

Hester's job was to guide the truck driver around the power lines. He apparently did not notice when the truck came in contact with them.

"When you are in a truck, you can't see over your head, so that's why they have a spotter on the ground," truck driver Daniel Watson said. "Evidently, he must have gotten distracted."

Watson said in six years on the job, this was the first time he has hit a power line.

"I heard a loud boom, and I realized I hit a power line and a transformer blew," he said.

Watson was not injured.

A similar incident happened in Knightdale two hours later, when a dump truck driver failed to lower the truck bed, hitting cable and phone lines.

The driver was not injured.