Accidental Death of Public Works Employee at Composting Facility

In what the Toms River police chief called an accidental death, a township public works employee died while unloading a box truck of leaves after 1:30 p.m. today.

Longtime Department of Public Works Truck Driver Joseph Cisco, 53, of Toms River died from a head injury near the controls for the hydraulic lift of a box truck at the leaf compost facility on Whitesville Road on Friday afternoon, said Toms River Police Chief Michael Mastronardy this evening in an email.

Just after 1:30 p.m. two employees called police and Officer Brian Dugan responded to the scene and, “immediately determined that a Toms River public works employee unloading a box truck of leaves was killed,” said Mastronardy. The Ocean County Medical Examiner’s Office pronounced Cisco dead at the scene.

Deputy Superintendent of Public Works Anthony Benyola and Supervisor Timothy Russell immediately responded to the scene, Mastronardy said. Thereafter, Benyola and Township Administrator Paul Shives responded to public works headquarters to meet with Cisco’s fellow employees as they were getting off work Friday afternoon, the police chief said.

The public works facility on Whitesville Road is not open to the public, and sits near the Toms River Armory, where workers unload box trucks, tilting them with hydraulic controls to dump loads of leaves, mulch and other refuse for processing.

Cisco was a quiet but friendly individual who worked for the township for more than two decades, and enjoyed riding his motorcycle, said a coworker who wished to remain nameless.

Responding to the scene assisting police were the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department, The Ocean County Prosecutors Office, New Jersey State Police Truck Unit, and the New Jersey Public Employee Occupational Safety Department.  Toms River Detective James Magovern is investigating the incident along with Paul Daley of the Township’s Safety Department.