Broken neck may have killed man working on truck

Karen Zekan

Tuesday, May 20, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

A man killed while working beneath his truck in the driveway outside his home may have died from a broken neck, authorities said.

The victim, whose identity has not been released, was beneath his older-model pickup truck when the vehicle shifted and began to roll down the driveway about 6:45 p.m. Monday, said Clark County Fire Department Capt. Gina Hall.

The undercarriage may have somehow lifted the man's head and bent his neck, Hall said. An autopsy was pending.

No blocks, jacks or other devices were in place to prevent the truck's movement, Hall said.

"A neighbor was using a jack to lift the car when we arrived," Hall said. "The man apparently died instantly."

Investigators had yet to confirm what caused the vehicle to move on the slightly sloped driveway in the 4600 block of Denwood Drive, near Tropicana Avenue and Buffalo Drive.

A crisis support team arrived at the home after the accident to lend support to the family with three young children whom Hall said moved to the neighborhood about two weeks ago from Arizona.

The conditions of the man's death were unusual, Hall said, in that most people working under cars have only close calls or minor injuries when the vehicles shift or fall.

Firefighters placed bricks behind the truck's wheels to prevent any further movement before attending to the body that lay behind the right front wheel.

"Make sure your vehicle is adequately secured before you get under it," Hall said. "Here's a guy who was just fine one minute and then something like this happens. ... It's tragic."