Georgia DOT Worker Killed While Clearing Ice

A Georgia Department of Transportation worker was killed Thursday morning while working to clear roadways of ice from the winter storm that struck the area this week.

At about 9:05 a.m., Carey Ellerbee, 60, was driving a DOT dump truck in Moreland, which is in Coweta County about 40 miles south of Atlanta. He attempted to cross a set of train tracks and the truck was struck on the passenger side by a train, according to the Georgia State Patrol.

The train dragged the truck for several hundred yards after the collision, a state patrol spokesperson said. The intersection Ellerbee was crossing has no crossing arm, just a yield sign, according to the state patrol.

The train, owned by CSX, was made up of two locomotives, 55 loaded rail cars and two empty cars, the company said in a written statement. No one on the train was injured, according to CSX.

"CSX extends its deepest sympathies to the family of the driver and to our transportation colleagues at GDOT," the company said.

The Department of Transportation confirmed the death in a social media post.

"We at the Georgia Department of Transportation are devastated to learn of the tragic death of one of our team members this morning," the statement read. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the family, and we ask for respect and privacy for them during this very difficult time."

DOT crews have been working since Monday to treat, then clear, roadways because of a winter storm that brought snow, ice and dangerously low wind chills to much of north and central Georgia.

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