HAZELTON • The owner of a dairy where a worker drowned in a waste pond Tuesday said the man was a hard-working father and “top-notch guy.”
Ruperto Vazquez-Carrera, 37, of Hazelton was pulled from the waste pond about 4 p.m. Tuesday, about 10 hours after the feed truck he was driving was found submerged in the pond.
The cause of death was accidental drowning, Jerome County Coroner Gerald Brant said.
“When he started working here around March last year he started at an entry-level position and worked his way up to a position of value,” said Dirk Reitsma, the owner of Sunrise Organic Dairy Farm. “He was here every day, never complained and never had a problem … he was a top-notch guy.”
Vazquez-Carrera was last seen around 5:30 a.m. but didn’t show up to a different part of the dairy where he was supposed to be later that morning, Jerome County Sheriff’s Lt. Dan Kennedy said Tuesday. Later in the morning someone saw the truck submerged in the pond and called police.
The dairy flooded overnight from snow melt, adding difficulty to the recovery, Kennedy said.
Shortly after noon, crews pulled the truck out of the 20-acre pond expecting to find Vazquez-Carrera’s body, Chief Deputy Jack Johnson said Tuesday. But when the truck was pulled from the pond, Vazquez-Carrera was not inside.
His body was found by the Minidoka County Sheriff’s dive team about four hours later.
“It was apparent he was trying to get himself out,” Kennedy said Tuesday. “As far as the why and how, we don’t have a clue.”
Vazquez-Carrera’s brother is also an employee at the dairy and was on scene during Tuesday’s search.
“It was just a freak accident,” Reitsma said. “It’s just a bad deal. I feel bad for his brother, wife and kids.”
Ruperto Vazquez-Carrera, 37, of Hazelton was pulled from the waste pond about 4 p.m. Tuesday, about 10 hours after the feed truck he was driving was found submerged in the pond.
The cause of death was accidental drowning, Jerome County Coroner Gerald Brant said.
“When he started working here around March last year he started at an entry-level position and worked his way up to a position of value,” said Dirk Reitsma, the owner of Sunrise Organic Dairy Farm. “He was here every day, never complained and never had a problem … he was a top-notch guy.”
Vazquez-Carrera was last seen around 5:30 a.m. but didn’t show up to a different part of the dairy where he was supposed to be later that morning, Jerome County Sheriff’s Lt. Dan Kennedy said Tuesday. Later in the morning someone saw the truck submerged in the pond and called police.
The dairy flooded overnight from snow melt, adding difficulty to the recovery, Kennedy said.
Shortly after noon, crews pulled the truck out of the 20-acre pond expecting to find Vazquez-Carrera’s body, Chief Deputy Jack Johnson said Tuesday. But when the truck was pulled from the pond, Vazquez-Carrera was not inside.
His body was found by the Minidoka County Sheriff’s dive team about four hours later.
“It was apparent he was trying to get himself out,” Kennedy said Tuesday. “As far as the why and how, we don’t have a clue.”
Vazquez-Carrera’s brother is also an employee at the dairy and was on scene during Tuesday’s search.
“It was just a freak accident,” Reitsma said. “It’s just a bad deal. I feel bad for his brother, wife and kids.”
Resource: http://magicvalley.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/top-notch-hazelton-dairy-employee-who-drowned-identified/article_4ed1a0ca-e2d0-5ddf-83f5-330537a0a70e.html
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