Son runs over dad in workplace tragedy

BABYLON, N.Y., Jan. 27 (UPI) -- A graveyard-shift worker at a Long Island, N.Y., recycling yard accidentally crushed his co-worker father to death when he ran him over with a 20-ton payloader.

Luis Marquez, 24, was moving concrete and other construction debris around the Omni Recycling yard in West Babylon Friday using a mammoth Caterpillar with six-foot tires when he drove over his father, 58-year-old Miguel Marquez.

Marquez's brother, Jose, who also works at the plant, told the New York Daily News: "Everybody was yelling; everybody was crying. No one could believe what happened. He thought it was garbage that he hit. It was not until he jumped out that he (learned) it was his father."

Suffolk County Police Detective Lt. Jack Fitzpatrick explained to the News that Luis Marquez had been "backing up and moving forward" when the accident occurred.

"The guy is smaller than the wheels of the thing," he said, referring to the victim. "If you get in the wrong spot, you are not going to be visible."

Police called the deadly incident an accident and issued no summonses.