Gary Dewayne Mitchell stepped out of his Republic Services trash truck around 6:11 a.m. on Friday. He was 60 and lived in Auburndale. The truck sat stopped near 1st Street and Emerald Avenue in Lake Wales. A car needed to get around it, so Mitchell moved to wave the driver past.
A 2019 Chevrolet 3500 pickup headed north at that moment. Jacob Trinidad Lopez from Lake Wales was behind the wheel. The truck hit Mitchell while he stood in the roadway doing his job. He wore a reflective vest.
Crews got him to AdventHealth Lake Wales fast. Doctors worked on him but could not save him. He died from the injuries that morning.
Police from Lake Wales answered the call right after 6:10 a.m. They looked over the scene and started putting the pieces together. The case stays open. They call the first details preliminary.
Mitchell drove the big trash truck for a living. That morning he stopped to handle the route the way he always did. Getting out to guide traffic was part of keeping things moving on the street.
People who work these early shifts know the risks. Mitchell took that step outside the cab and never made it back in. His family in Auburndale now faces the empty spot he left.
The investigation keeps going. Officers will dig for more facts about how the pickup struck him. For now the known points stop at the hit, the hospital, and the loss.
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