A 33-year-old Waste Management driver died Wednesday after his trash truck drifted from its lane and slammed into an overpass support beam in Fort Worth, according to witnesses. The driver was identified as Tyler Shivers. A passenger in the truck was injured. Witnesses who rushed toward the cr ash said they were still shaken by what they saw and were thinking about the families of both men. Marcus Hawkins said he was sitting in his car just yards away in the moments before the crash. He said he saw the Waste Management truck begin to drift between lanes before hitting a slope and slamming into the support beam. Abby Zuñiga said she felt a large vibration through her house and initially thought it was lightning and that rain was coming. She stepped outside and then ran toward the truck. “Our biggest fear in that moment, everyone’s you can see it on their face, was this is either gonna burn, explode, or the bridge is gonna collapse,” said Zuniga. Hawkins and another man used pocket knives to help free the driver from the truck. “When I get out, it’s just smoke and debris, so it’s kind of hard to breathe. I’m trying to cover my face with my shirt,” said Hawkins. “I helped him hold him up. And he was able to cut the seat belt when he pulled him out. I helped them lift him up and he was able to get his pants stuck around the shrapnel. We pulled him with safety.” “You could tell the driver wasn’t alive anymore. I covered him,” Zuniga said. The truck was part of Waste Management’s fleet. In a statement to NBC 5, the company said: “We lost a valued member of the WM family and we are cooperating with police as they investigate. Our thoughts and prayers are with the employee’s family and the other passenger involved in this accident.” Zuñiga said she spoke with the men’s families at the scene. “I’m grieving with them and I feel really bad. I’m sorry for how that happened,” Zuniga said. Hawkins said he had a hard time sleeping after the crash and was still processing what he witnessed. He said he would not hesitate to step in and help someone again. “I just hope if I was ever in that situation, my father, mother, anybody close to me, relatives, friends, that somebody else would step out, you know, step into a line of duty to help them as well,” Hawkins said. A Fort Worth police officer said he had never seen an accident like this with such extensive damage to an overpass. State and local agencies are working on the repair process, and evaluating the damage is expected to take at least a week. On Thursday afternoon, the National Transportation Safety Board said they have opened a safety investigation into the crash in coordination with the Fort Worth Police Department. This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC DFW. AI tools helped convert the story into a digital article, and an NBC DFW journalist edited it again before publication. ...read more read less