Peter M. Davis

Failure to adhere to federal and state drug testing protocols has resulted in an $8.5 million settlement in the wrongful death of construction worker Peter M. Davis, 61, who was fatally struck by a dump truck owned by Ti-Zack Concrete at a downtown St. Paul road construction site in 2022.

Ramsey County District Judge Mark Ireland wrote in a Feb. 5 ruling that a manager of Ti-Zack, based in Le Center, Minn., took the dump truck driver at the wheel to a local hospital for drug testing and left him there following the accident. That occurred instead of following the required procedures of informing the company’s medical review officer and taking the driver to a properly certified lab, both of which Ti-Zack has, the judge said.

Davis, who previously worked for more than 40 years for St. Paul Regional Water Services, died from his injuries after being struck by the loaded dump truck on Sept. 28, 2022 as it backed up at a municipal road project in downtown St. Paul. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Davis was working for heavy civil contractor SPG Construction, which was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

The truck was driven by Dawson Barber, 23, an employee of Ti-Zack, which does business in Midwest, Central and mid-South states. He tested presumptive positive for both cocaine and THC (marijuana) after a urine draw at the hospital.

Jeffrey S. Sieben, an attorney at SiebenCarey Personal Injury Law who represents Davis’s widow Kristi Davis, says the suit revealed various failures on the part of the defendant. "These included drug use by the driver of the truck, destruction of evidence and negligence in drug testing and other safety protocols,” Sieben said in a statement.

On the day of the incident, Christopher Hartwig, president and safety director for Ti-Zack, and the project's employee designated representative, did not consult with the medical review officer on site or take Barber to a properly certified lab even though he had the time and ability to do so.  

Instead, he took him to Regions Hospital where Barber told Hartwig he was going to fail a drug test. Hartwig then left Barber at the hospital.

"Mr. Hartwig had plenty of time to take defendant Barber to a designated drug testing facility, but, instead, he chose to leave," the court found.

"It was a failure to follow the rules that created kind of a cover-up situation," Sieben says. 

The plaintiff alleged other safety violations including failing to adequately train the driver, failing to do prior employment checks on the driver, improperly installing a backup alarm that was operating at a sound level less than 70% of manufacturer's specifications, and a spotter who was on a cell phone during the incident. 

The plaintiff states that the truck moved in reverse for 5.6 seconds before hitting Davis, and traveled between 67 and 69 ft before stopping. Davis was aware of the truck for approximately 1.5 seconds before being knocked over by it.

As part of the settlement Ti-Zack agreed to hire a new safety director and show the video of the incident to all new drivers as part of the onboarding and training process.

Photo courtesy of SiebenCarey Personal Injury Law.