CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – Sanitation worker Jose Eduardo Santos Toledo, better known as Lalo, was retrieving a trash bin on the side of Highway 41 in Joelton on Dec. 2 when a car smashed into the back of the truck, pinning Santos in between.
Four weeks later, on Dec. 28, Santos died from his injuries.
“This was an extremely hardworking man, just out doing his job,” said Robert Lane, operations manager of Stinky Pinky Trash & Septic Services, based in Clarksville.
After the accident, Lane started a GoFundMe page, initially help the Santos family with medical expenses for the 29-year-old employee.
Now, all the funds will go towards Santos’ funeral.
Remembering Santos
Lane told Clarksville Now that Santos had been with Stinky Pinky for almost three years when the accident happened.
“He was one of the best drivers we had. A guy you could always count on to be at work and show up with a smile on his face, and provide great service for all of his customers,” Lane said.
What happened to Santos has been difficult for everyone at Stinky Pinky, but he said Santos will always be with them in spirit and a part of their company.
“You wake up every day thinking this is a dream, because he was more than an employee – he was our friend,” Lane said.
“We appreciate everything that (Stinky Pinky) has done, and everything that they’re still doing,” Santos’ stepmother, Lois James, said. “We also want to thank everybody for donating to the GoFundMe account.”
“He really, really was a hard-worker, and he would do anything for anybody that he could,” James said. “Everybody really, really loved him, and I didn’t realize how many people did until this happened.”
The accident
“He was out picking up trash that morning, it was actually his first stop of the day on Highway 41 up in Joelton, and just another day out there,” Lane said.
“People don’t realize how dangerous this job is, I mean even with all the flashing lights on, he had his high-visibility jacket, shirt, everything on. He was doing everything right. Every precaution he could take, he was taking. And a car came flying up behind him, shot into the other lane, and the car behind that car didn’t shoot over, and he actually veered to the right. When he veered to the right, that’s exactly where Lalo was standing,” Lane continued.
The collision pinned Santos between the car and his trash truck. Lane said Santos lost his left leg in the impact. Paramedics sent him by LifeFlight to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.
“The first couple weeks was just trying to get him stable, and they ended up having to amputate his right leg,” Lane said.
A week later, his organs began shutting down. Lane said doctors then told the Santos family it was likely he would not survive, and he was taken off the life support machine on Dec. 28.
Close calls and vigilance
Lane said what happened to Santos is all too common.
“Anybody who does this for a living has close calls; I’ve been there. Anyone who’s out working on the road when you’re dealing with distracted drivers. It’s not so much us, it’s being vigilant of what’s going on around you, because that is what you’ve got to watch out for,” Lane said.
“People need to be more cautious about when they are approaching anybody working alongside of the road – construction workers, trash people, utility people, anybody – because you never know when something is going to happen, and that’s the sad part,” Lane said.
Santos leaves behind a young daughter.
The preliminary accident report from the Tennessee Highway Patrol states possible charges are pending.
As of Monday, Jan. 4, no criminal charges have been filed against the driver who hit Santos, according to Cheatham County Circuit Court Clerk Julie Hibbs.
