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Minnesota family wins $8M settlement after husband was killed by a dump truck

By
Jonah Kaplan
Jonah Kaplan
Investigative Reporter
Jonah Kaplan is an award-winning journalist who has built a strong reputation for his balanced reporting, thoughtful interviews, and deeply researched coverage of high-impact issues affecting the community. His work appears on all of WCCO's newscasts and is often featured on CBS News' programs and platforms, including the CBS Evening News, CBS Mornings and CBS 24/7.
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Jonah Kaplan

/ CBS Minnesota

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Two years after his tragic death at a work site, the family of a longtime St. Paul water services employee has won a major settlement from the construction company.

"There is not a day that goes by that I don't think about what happened on Sept. 28 (2022)," said Kristi Davis of her late husband, Peter Davis. "My children and I are resilient. That is one thing I've learned. We are resilient."

Davis, 61, was struck and killed by a dump truck while working at a job site near Seventh Street and Wabasha Street in downtown St. Paul. Davis took that job shortly after retiring from the St. Paul Regional Water Service after more than 40 years.

In the first days after the incident, St. Paul Police reported there was no indication of any criminal negligence, but Davis' family maintained there was no way this was just an accident.

"He was very experienced," Kristi Davis said. "Forty years in the water construction industry, and as his spouse, those dinner conversations. I'm aware of what it takes to operate a safe work site just from the stories he was telling me."

Davis said the surveillance footage confirmed her suspicions.

"He wasn't just dinking around on a job site," she said. "He had situational awareness. One of the things you saw that the video showed was he was aware of that truck sitting there idling. He looked back over his shoulder three times."

What the video didn't show, however, was what was revealed in discovery once Davis filed suit. According to court documents, the driver's drug test showed signs of cocaine and THC. The truck, moreover, would not have passed a maintenance inspection. Subsequent investigations further found that driver and the construction company improperly handled evidence, including the drug test and the driver's cell phone. 

The judge issued two orders reprimanding those violations.

"The message is: we have good rules but they have to be followed," Jeffrey Sieben, Davis' attorney, told WCCO. "The consequences of that are fatal. A guy like Peter Davis deserves to come home."

Court documents identify the construction company as Ti-Zack Concrete, which its website says was founded in 1999 in Le Center, Minnesota. The company will pay a $8.5M settlement to the Davis family, in addition to implementing a number of safety protocols, including hiring a new safety coordinator and requiring new drivers to watch footage of the incident.

"My husband's friends and colleagues still work in the field, and I needed to do what I could to ensure their safety so this traumatic event doesn't happen in the future," Davis said.

WCCO reached out to Ti-Zack Concrete for comment and continues to await a response.

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