Alaska Department Of Public Safety,State Troopers Public Information Office

Dispatch Text:

On Feb. 1, Alaska State Troopers in Ketchikan responded to Knudson Cove Road on a report that a truck, trailer and excavator went over an embankment and into the ocean with a person trapped inside. An investigation found that 80-year-old Darrell Vandergriff was offloading the excavator from the trailer when the truck and trailer rolled down a driveway, over the embankment and into the water. The truck and excavator were mostly submerged when troopers arrived. Troopers and responding medics removed Vandergriff from the excavator. He was brought to a hospital, where he was pronounced deceased. His next of kin was notified.