Deanna Beck paused as a trash truck drove through the parking garage of her Mission Valley apartment building. Once it passed, she entered a crosswalk behind it, phone and purse in hand.
But before she could make it across, the truck suddenly reversed. Its outstretched metal tines — intended to lift the complex’s large dumpsters — struck her, as captured on a surveillance video.
“She’s violently skewered by the Waste Management vehicle in reverse,” said Corey Garrard, an attorney representing Beck in a lawsuit against USA Waste of California Inc., a company that operates Waste Management trash trucks across the state.
Beck’s attorneys shared the video this week, and allege that the 41-year-old suffered severe injuries, including brain damage, from the February 2021 crash.
The suit, filed in California Superior Court in San Diego County, is scheduled for trial this fall. Garrard said they hope to win Beck “multi-millions” in damages.
Jennifer Andrews, a spokesperson for Waste Management of Southern California, declined to comment on the case, citing ongoing litigation. Joshua Bordin-Wosk — the attorney representing the company and the truck driver, according to court filings — did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Garrard, citing depositions in the case, alleged that the driver was talking on the phone when the crash occurred, which was against company policy.
He said the driver has since been fired. Andrews did not respond to questions about the driver’s employment status.
The driver “throws his truck into reverse and basically mauls our client with the pitchforks of the truck,” said John Gomez, another attorney representing Beck. He said Beck suffered brain trauma, as well as major neck injuries that required surgery.
She has also been diagnosed with dysautonomia, which Garrard described as an issue that affects communication between her brain and heart that has left her dangerously lightheaded and led to multiple falls, including down stairs.
“She has a whole battery of cognitive issues,” Garrard said. “If she stands up, or if she changes direction quickly, she can get really lightheaded and almost faint.“
Beck, who worked as a dolphin trainer at SeaWorld San Diego for more than 15 years, can no longer physically or mentally do that job, Gomez said.
“It’s something she can’t do any longer. She’s tried to go back to work,” he said.
She’s tried to return to bartending, but postconcussive syndrome and severe short-term memory issues have made that challenging, Garrard said.
“She can’t remember what she said two minutes ago, she can’t remember to take her medications,” Garrard said. “Those are the day-to-day problems she has.”
Beck joined Gomez and Garrard at a news conference Monday outside a Waste Management building in San Diego County, but did not speak publicly.
“The point of us being here is to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Gomez said. “The point of this lawsuit is to protect all San Diegans from preventable incidents like this.”
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