San Diego Woman Struck By Waste Management Truck Sues Operator

By Debbie L. Sklar, Times of San Diego

August 15, 2023

A San Diego woman who sustained serious injuries when she was struck by a pickup truck as it backed up at her apartment complex is suing the trash-service company that operated the truck, it was announced Monday.

Deanna Beck was walking through the parking garage at her Mission Valley apartment complex on Feb. 5, 2021 when an employee for Waste Management reversed his truck into her.

Video footage shared by her attorneys shows one of the truck’s metal tines — used for lifting Dumpsters — striking the woman and sending her to the ground.

Beck, a former Seaworld animal trainer, suffered major neck injuries, brain trauma, and a nervous system disorder known as dysautonomia, according to her attorneys, who say Beck cannot return to her trainer job of 16 years due to her injuries and subsequent memory issues associated with the incident.

A spokesperson for Waste Management declined to comment on the lawsuit, which is set to go to trial this October.

Corey Garrard, one of Beck’s attorneys, claimed at a Monday news conference that the driver was on his cell phone at the time of the incident and had been written up multiple times for doing so prior to striking Beck.

Garrard claimed a supervisor told the driver that it was all right to be on his phone while working as long as the phone was not in his hands, but the attorney said that is against company policy.

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