Abstract: Employee #1, a garbage collector, was trying to grab a large piece of cardboard out of the back of a 2004 Sterling, Heil PT 1000 rear-load refuse (garbage) truck, when Employee #2 began to close the tailgate. Employee #1 was caught by the tail gate. When Employee #2 heard Employee #1 yelling, he opened the tailgate and Employee #1 fell backwards to the ground. Other employees came to help and the manager took Employee #1 to Pella Hospital. While at Pella Hospital, Employee #1 began to have seizures, so Pella Hospital Life-Flighted him to Mercy Hospital in Des Moines, where he died at approximately 7:00 p.m. on February 10, 2010. Employee #1 had sustained a vertebral artery rupture.