'Careless' foreman crushes woman, 19, with backhoe at Bexar County construction site

A 19-year-old construction worker was crushed to death by the backhoe bucket of a construction truck on Monday at a development site in the city's Far West Side. A 19-year-old construction worker was crushed to death by the backhoe bucket of a construction truck on Monday at a development site in the city's Far West Side. Photo: Caleb Downs, San Antonio Express-News Photo: Caleb Downs, San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 14 Caption Close 'Careless' foreman crushes woman, 19, with backhoe at Bexar County construction site 1 / 14 Back to Gallery

SAN ANTONIO — A 19-year-old woman was killed Monday when a foreman crushed her with a backhoe bucket while she worked at a construction site in the far West Side.

Bexar County deputies responded to an injured person call around 10:30 a.m. In the 13700 block of Potranco Road. When they arrived at the construction site, they discovered Destiny Rodriguez had been crushed to death.

Sgt. Roger Pedraza of the Bexar County Sheriff's Office said Rodriguez was inside a dig site and the operator of the backhoe, later identified as a foreman at the site, didn't see her and dropped the bucket on top of her.

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She was pronounced dead at the scene, and the foreman was hospitalized, "probably for shock," according to Pedraza. He said it is unclear if the foreman was intoxicated at the time of the incident

Rodriguez's family was notified shortly after she was found dead and about 2 dozen family members came to the scene, where many relatives wept in each other's arms and grieved for Rodriguez.

Rosa, Rodriguez's 28-year-old sister, said she was a hard worker and she loved her family more than anything.

"She would help anyone," Rosa said through tears. "If she were on her last five dollars, she would give it to you."

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Rosa said this wasn't the first time Rodriguez had been injured at the construction site. She said last week Rodriguez came home with a grapefruit-sized bruise on the back of her leg. The same backhoe operator had allegedly knocked her leg with the backhoe.

"He's always breaking pipes," said Edward Gonzales, 24, who's been working for the construction company, Step It Up, for about a month. "Always careless. If you asked everybody else that worked with us, they would say the same thing."

Rosa said Rodriguez had complained in the past about how the company didn't follow any safety guidelines.

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Rodriguez's brother, 23-year-old Miguel, initially got her the job, according to Rosa. Both worked for Step It Up, until Monday.

Rosa said Rodriguez's death is particularly painful for her family because she lost another sister, 29-year-old Anna, to cancer.

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Twitter: @calebjdowns