Alaska Firm Denies Truck Dropped Rock That Hit Car, Caused Death

A company working on road reconstruction on an Alaska highway south of Anchorage has said its gravel trucks were not responsible for the rock that hit a car and killed an 8-year-old boy inside.

Noah Schwebach, of Eagle River, was killed earlier this month after a large rock fell off an oncoming truck and crashed through the small car’s windshield on Sterling Highway, the Peninsula Clarion reported .

Schwebach was one of five people inside the Volkswagen GTI Hatchback traveling north on the highway. A volleyball-size rock rolled off a passing southbound truck and hit the boy, who was seated in the middle of the back seat. He died at the scene.

Granite Construction was contracted by the state for the project covering 21 miles (34 kilometers) of highway on the Kenai Peninsula.

In a statement last week, a Granite Construction spokesperson said the company had conducted an internal investigation, finding that its truck did not match the witness descriptions of the truck involved. The company said it only had one truck involved in the project at the time of the accident.

“Additionally, we have determined that at the time of the incident our truck was some distance away, traveling empty back to the pit,” the company said. “We believe that the truck that caused the incident was unrelated to our project, driving material southbound on the Sterling Highway.”

The company is continuing to work with Alaska State Troopers, who have indicated that they did not believe Granite Construction’s trucks were involved, according to the company.

Troopers have said the truck involved was tentatively identified, but they did not give the name of the operator.