A 40-year-old Florida man was crushed to death by a bulldozer while using a porta-potty in what police are calling a "tragic, industrial accident."
Now, the family of Aaron Henderson is calling for a full investigation into his death, telling WFLA they "won't stop" until they get answers.
The deadly incident happened Friday evening at the Polk County Landfill in Winter Haven, about 45 miles east of Tampa.
The landfill had closed for the day, and employees were going through their daily procedures for shutting down. A bulldozer operator was driving up an embankment to park his tractor, but he couldn't see directly in front of him because the machine's front blade was elevated 3 to 4 feet off the ground, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office .
"The driver negotiated up the embankment towards the staging area, and once on level ground, he began to turn his bulldozer and heard a loud crumble," police said in a statement to NBC News.
The driver ran to the porta-potty and found Henderson unresponsive. Paramedics responded and pronounced Henderson dead on the scene. The medical examiner ruled the death accidental, WTVT reported.
Police said both Henderson and the bulldozer driver were CertiTemp contract employees. Henderson was assigned as a "spotter" to direct incoming and outgoing dump trucks in the landfill.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating.
County officials said it was the first death to occur at the landfill.
"The Landfill is a dynamic, industrial environment with movement of hundreds of trucks coming to unload and heavy equipment at the Landfill all day long," County Manager Bill Beasley said in a statement. "We have never experienced anything like this here."
Erica Dopson, Henderson's cousin, said the father of three had just recently started working at the landfill.
"He was very excited, told everybody about it. He said he was so happy that he was finally able to support his kids the right way, support himself the right way, his family," Dopson told WFLA. "He changed his life for the better and then just for this to happen, it's just sad."
His family is vowing to find out exactly what happened.
"At the end of the day, we don't know what happened, but we just want to know the truth," Henderson's brother, Lenard, told WTVT. "So we hope they do a thorough investigation, you know what I'm saying? All we want is the truth."
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