Cheyenne police and witnesses say a cloud of cement powder created poor visibility in a crash that killed a 33-year-old city street sweeper on College Drive.
Damon Shaw was cleaning up spilled cement powder near a concrete plant on Oct. 22 when he was rear-ended by a Dodge Durango driven by a 30-year-old man, according to police.
“There was no visibility at all,” said Al Gates, a Cheyenne resident who was on his way to a doctor’s appointment that day and passed Shaw sweeping the street shortly before he was rear-ended. “It was amazing.”
The crash happened on College Drive near Croell Concrete in an area where concrete production has increased significantly to keep pace with Cheyenne's booming data center and power plant construction.
“College Drive traffic has really increased with all the construction that is happening on south side of Cheyenne,” Gates said.
Shaw was operating the street sweeper at about 11:45 a.m. when a Dodge Durango traveling north on the same road struck the sweeper from behind.
The impact ejected Shaw from the sweeper. He was taken to Cheyenne Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
The 30-year-old driver of the Durango was also injured and taken to the hospital.
Cheyenne Police Sgt. Matthew Colson told Cowboy State Daily that reduced visibility caused by dust kicked up during the sweeping operation contributed to the crash.
Investigators also determined that a lack warning signs and safety equipment alerting motorists to work taking place in the roadway were factors.
"From our investigation it appeared there was no presence of advance warning or any type of safety equipment," Colson said.
Speed was not a factor, he added.
Gates said a lane had been blocked off where the spill had occurred. He moved into a middle lane and came into a dust cloud.
It wasn’t until he was in the dust cloud that he realized the street sweeper was right there, in the lane next to him, he said.
'Somebody's Going To Get Hit'
Stephanie Martin, a Cheyenne mechanic who works near the crash site, remembers the dust that morning.
While taking a vehicle on a test drive after completing repairs, she encountered visibility so poor that she drove close to the shoulder, worried another vehicle might strike her.
"I do recall thinking to myself somebody's going to get hit here," Martin told Cowboy State Daily.
On another test drive later, she encountered a police officer redirecting traffic onto Fox Farm Road because of the accident.
"The visibility was still horrendous," she said.
Cheyenne resident Heather Madrid described the intersection of College Drive and South Greeley Highway as a "failing intersection," saying debris in the roadway frequently creates visibility problems for motorists.
Gates said the volume of traffic – much of it construction-related – has increased substantially in the area with all the data center construction. The route is an arterial connection between I-25 and I-80.
“I’m hoping everyone is paying attention to that,” Gates said. “The city needs to do what they can to get on top of it.”
Sally Kinkade, who knew Shaw, said the cleanup involved a large spill of powdered cement.
Kinkade's brother owns 5 Star Sweeping, a local street sweeping business, and had received a call about the spill but declined the job, she said.
Kinkade said she was told the conditions were made worse by wind and the street sweeper itself, which kicked up additional dust while attempting to remove the material from the road.
"A street sweeper trying to sweep it all up then of course you're going to have a very low visibility when the wind kicks in," she said.
By the time Colson arrived at the scene, the dust had cleared, he said.
Traffic was shut down for more than an hour following the crash.
Concrete Business Booming
According to Colson, the material Shaw was cleaning up had spilled from a vehicle associated with local company Morandin Concrete. Colson said he believes the vehicle was headed toward Croell Concrete when the spill occurred.
John Fitzgerald, a safety officer with Croell Concrete, said he saw the spilled material and checked to make sure it had not come from one of his company's vehicles.
"I did see the mess and saw all the dust to make sure it wasn't one of ours," Fitzgerald told Cowboy State Daily.
Fitzgerald said it is generally the responsibility of the company involved in a spill to arrange for cleanup, often through its dispatcher.
He said he did not know what caused the spill or who arranged for Shaw to respond to clean it up.
Morandin Concrete declined to answer Cowboy State Daily’s questions about the incident.
“We have no comment on that,” a man who did not identify himself told Cowboy State Daily, before hanging up on the call.
The crash comes as concrete suppliers in the Cheyenne area are experiencing a surge in business, driven in large part by the construction of data centers and other major industrial facilities.
Fitzgerald said Croell has seen a significant increase in production.
"We have a lot more concrete being made right now, a lot more mixes because we do quite a bit for the data centers and also the power plant," he said.
Data centers require substantial amounts of concrete for foundations, structural components, equipment pads and other infrastructure needed to support heavy servers, cooling systems and electrical equipment.
And Cheyenne has no shortage of projects.
According to Cheyenne LEADS, the area's economic development organization, Cheyenne has 10 operational data center locations, five under construction and nine additional projects in various planning stages.
The unprecedented pace of industrial development has become a major topic of discussion among city leaders, who are considering new requirements for construction sites as development continues to reshape the community.
For companies supplying concrete and other construction materials, that means an expanding workload and increased demand for their products.
Fitzgerald said concrete spills do happen, although they are not particularly common. He said he did not know what caused the spill that preceded Shaw's death.
Questions About Safety
For investigators, one of the central questions is whether adequate precautions were in place to protect both the street sweeper operator and passing motorists.
Colson said the investigation found no advance warning signs or other safety equipment alerting drivers to the sweeping operation.
The investigation's findings have been compiled and submitted to the district attorney for review, he said.
Police have forwarded their findings to the Laramie County District Attorney's Office for review. No charges had been filed, according to Cheyenne Police Capt. David Janes.
"We put together all facts and evidence of the case, compiled it and sent it to district attorney for review and charging," Colson said.
The district attorney will determine whether charges are warranted.
Fitzgerald said people in the concrete industry tend to look out for one another, even when they work for competing companies.
"I hate to see brothers hurt or killed in a situation like this," he said.
He said he believes something could have been done to prevent the tragedy.
"Every accident's avoidable, unless it's absolutely nature," Fitzgerald said.
"Something could have been done ... something happened somewhere in the system that caused this."
For Kinkade, the loss of Shaw is personal.
"He was an amazing fellow with a family who loved him dearly," she said.
Kate Meadows can be reached at kate@cowboystatedaily.com.
