Church St, Parramatta Square: Truck driver dies after crashing under rail bridge

A concrete truck driver who suffered a heart attack behind the wheel at a busy Parramatta intersection has died.

A concrete truck driver who suffered a heart attack behind the wheel at a busy Parramatta intersection died shortly after he was rushed from the site opposite Westfield to hospital.

Witnesses said the truck driver, aged 43, was slumped over his wheel of the Boral truck under the rail bridge about 9.45am when his horn started blowing.

Shortly after, NSW Ambulance Inspector Andrew McAlpine said paramedics were still trying to resuscitate the man, who was in an “extremely critical condition” but he was pronounced dead at Westmead Hospital about 10.30am.

“The accident was forced by a medical incident, not the other way around,’’ Insp McAlpine said.

He believed the man had an undiagnosed medical problem otherwise he would not have attained a commercial truck driving licence.

The incident happened under the rail bridge but no other victims were involved even after the truck crashed into the traffic lights and rolled back after witness and busker Richard Neho turned off the ignition.

“It could have been catastrophic but it’s a really controlled environment, as opposed to him driving down the Great Western Highway doing 80km/h,” Insp McAlpine said

Paramedics work on a truck driver found slumped over his wheel on Church St, Parramatta.

Mr Neho, as well as a lawyer and his client worked to save the truck driver found slumped over the wheel.

Mr Neho, who was playing his guitar at the time, was the first person to respond to the victim.

He said he noticed the driver leaning back when the lights at the intersection of Church and Argyle streets turned green.

Busker Richard Neho has told of the dramatic moment a truck driver crashed into traffic lights before suffering a heart attack.

I’m thinking ‘he must be taking a breather’,” Mr Neho said.

But when the concrete truck hit the kerb and struck the lights, Mr Neho dashed to open the door of the truck when he saw the victim was on a video call and could tell he wasn’t breathing.

He instructed the person on the phone to call Triple 0.

“As soon as I turned off the key, the truck rolled backwards,” Mr Neho said.

“I jumped into the truck to see if he was still responsive but he wasn’t responsive.”

Solicitor Kyle Kutasi and his client Paul Fogarty also called the ambulance and compressed the man’s heart before paramedics arrived.

“The horn went off and we could see some of his workmates were concerned, jumped in to put the handbrake on to stop it rolling backwards,” Mr Kutasi said.

“He was stumped over the steering wheel, he looks like he had a heart attack or stroke.”

Witness Paul Fogarty was one of the first people on the scene.

Three intensive care and two primary care paramedics treated him at the scene before he was rushed to hospital.

The man was about to turn into Argyle Street when the driver suffered a heart attack.

Monique Georges and her mother Rosemary were walking past the Church St site when the truck horn sounded.

“We were just walking and there was a crowd of people and he was just lumped over the wheel,” Monique said.

The pair was visibly upset as paramedics, firefighters and police treated the victim.

“It was really good to see how many people were proactive in calling for help,” Rosemary said.

A Boral spokeswoman said the man, who was an employee of a Boral transport contractor, was delivering concrete from its Granville plant to the Parramatta site.

“Our sincere condolences and thoughts are with his family and friends,’’ she said.

“We are supporting our people, including making counselling services available to our employees and contractors affected by the sad loss of their colleague.”