Partner’s eerie last call to surveyor killed in gravel truck rollover at road construction site

The grieving partner of a surveyor crushed to death by a trailer load of road fill has told of her anguish and the eerie premonition she had at the exact time of his death. | VIDEO

A tragic truck rollover at Victoria Point killed Brad Arnold and changed life forever for his long-time partner Geraldine Price. Mr Arnold mows a heart shape into the lawn for Ms Price. Pictures: Contributed

The grieving partner of a surveyor, crushed to death by a trailer of road fill, has told of her bitter anguish and the eerie premonition she had at the exact time of his death.

Morayfield woman Geraldine Price had texted her surveyor partner Brad Arnold who was working on a special Saturday shift for construction giant Seymour Whyte at Victoria Point.

Mr Arnold, a contractor worker, was working at a road widening project which involved filling land around a gully, when the trailer of a truck tipped over just before 1pm on September 23, killing him instantly.

Ms Price last saw the 56-year-old father-of-two at morning tea time on the day he died when he returned to the Redland Bay house they were staying in for a cuppa.

She also had a conversation with him via Facetime just after 11.14am after he returned to work that morning.

It was after that morning Facetime chat, at about 1pm, that she had a premonition that something wasn’t right when he had not returned her text messages.

She sent three texts, made a phone call, a Facetime call and a final text message before deciding to get into the car at about 3.20pm and drive eight minutes to the worksite nearby.

The scene of the truck and trailer rollover at Benfer Rd and Cleveland-Redland Bay Rd at Victoria Point and Brad Arnold blows a kiss to long-time partner Geraldine Price in a Facetime call.

“He didn’t answer my text messages, or a call or a Facetime call so I thought, I would put the roast in the oven and I’ll go for a drive to the site, which was less than 3km away,” she said.

“I had a feeling, like a gut feeling at about 1pm, but when I was driving and getting near to the site I started crying because I could feel there was something very wrong.

“I just wanted him to answer my call to let me know that he was okay — but he never did.

“I kept driving even though I did not know what I was going to encounter and then I saw the gravel truck and the trailer was on its side.”

Geraldine Price and Brad Arnold at a restaurant, left, and Brad Arnold trained as a surveyor while living in South Africa. Pictures: Contributed.

Ms Price said she was forced to drive through the intersection and past the construction site as part of the intersection was closed.

She did a U-turn and parked at a nearby service station across the road from the worksite before asking a workman if her partner was still at the site.

“He gave me a really strange look and nodded his head and then I asked him if Brad was under the trailer and he nodded his head — that’s when my life changed completely forever,” Ms Price said.

“I couldn’t stand up and fell to the ground — I could not believe what had happened.”

A site worker gave Ms Price comfort at the site before Mr Arnold’s body was taken at about 5.30pm to the morgue at the John Tonge Centre where a coroner conducted an autopsy.

A truck trailer on its side at the scene of the incident at Victoria Point, where Cleveland-Redland Bay Rd is being widened at Benfer Rd opposite the Victoria Point State High School. Picture: Courtesy 7 News.com.au

The incident is the subject of an investigation under the state’s Work Health and Safety Act and will look into whether there was a spotter onsite that day and why the trailer tipped.

A letter sent to Ms Price in September from the Coroners Court stated Mr Arnold died of multiple injuries following a truck rollover.

Ms Price said Mr Arnold was the love of her life and his death had forced her to move out of the rental property they shared and left her struggling emotionally and financially.

Since they met in 2021, Ms Price said their relationship had been dominated by love hearts.

Mr Arnold mowed a love heart into the grass in their rental backyard at Morayfield and she cut a heart shape in his hair.

When Mr Arnold was given the Redland contract at Victoria Point, the couple moved into a house owned by her family at Redland Bay.

While in Redlands, the couple had a meal out at Wellington Point. Picture: Contributed

On arrival, they found a stray two of hearts playing card on the back deck of the property, which Ms Price said the pair had laughed about and believed it had good luck.

 “Hearts were a common theme for us.” she said.

“When I first met Brad, my hoya plant, which has heart-shaped leaves, all of a sudden started sprouting leaves after more than six years of no growth.

“Since Brad has died the plant’s main love heart leaf has gone brown and withered.”

Last month, CFMEU state secretary Michael Ravbar said the workplace death was “preventable”.

“The tragic fatality is yet another wake-up call for the Queensland Labor government,” Mr Ravbar said.

“This totally preventable death follows repeated warnings from the CFMEU about the need to modernise outdated regulations about heavy plant and equipment.”

Ms Price said she was trying to pick up the pieces of her life and had received a bunch of flowers from construction company Seymour Whyte but had not heard from the Karreman Quarries truck company.