INDIANAPOLIS -- Is a Comcast worker to blame for multiple slide offs - including some accidents - near where he was parked in the road while making repairs Tuesday afternoon?
A cell phone video of the incident has prompted multiple investigations, but people are arguing for both sides.
The neighbor who shot the video said it was taken along West Morris Street just east of Bridgeport.
The video shows a Comcast crew blocking the westbound lane of the road, with just a few orange cones surrounding his truck.
Witnesses say drivers coming over a ridge could not see the truck, and caused a big mess as they tried to avoid hitting it.
In the video, you can hear a man pleading with the crews to increase their safety efforts and add more cones after numerous cars had already slid off of the road to avoid hitting the truck.
As the man argues with the worker, at least two accidents are caught on video. But the worker stands firm, telling the man that he is only required to have 5 cones up based on the speed limit on that roadway and that the other drivers are the problem.
At one point the man recording the video even sets up extra cones of his own.
Neighbors say that stretch of road is a constant safety hazard, because of the blind ridge. And while the weather was bad, the Comcast worker should have showed some courtesy as well.
“The weather was one factor but I do blame the cable company that was down there,” said Angie Beaver who lives nearby. “They wouldn’t move the cones up and they seen the hit-and-run and they seen the people in the ditch and they just said we’re here to do our job and that’s it.”
RTV6 contacted the Department of Business to find out if they were involved in the investigation. They said that situations like this are typically on a complaint basis and they were unaware if they would be investigating the matter at this time.
Comcast released the following statement on Wednesday:
When I watched this video I was very concerned by what I saw. Our employees should always protect people and treat them with respect no matter what the situation. Safety matters most - especially in dangerous weather conditions like this.
We are actively investigating what happened when our technicians were on site to restore services during an outage and we will reach out to those who were impacted by this incident.
Within the next 24-48 hours, my team leaders will meet with our technicians across our company to use this as an example of how important it is to make everyone’s safety a priority in everything we do.
And just as important, there’s no place for disrespect - treating people the right way is the only way to work.
-Ed Marchetti, SVP of Technical Operations, Comcast Cable
OSHA said they have received a safety complaint related to the video and will conduct a safety investigation. No other information will be released until their investigation is complete.
Police say they are aware of the video and are not involved because nothing illegal occurred. They also want to remind drivers to reduce their speed to ensure proper breaking can occur when road conditions are hazardous.
