yellow and black heavy equipment on asphalt
An example of a backhoe. Photo: Pexels

PINEDALE, Wyo. — A Sublette County man was killed Friday after the wall of a trench he was working in collapsed and buried him.

According to a press release from Sublette County Sheriff’s Office, first responders were dispatched to the home of 63-year-old Gale Roberts in Boulder, Wyoming, just after 10 a.m. on June 9.

First responders used a backhoe and shovels to free Roberts but by the time they could reach vitals, he had no pulse and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Roberts and another person had used a backhoe to dig a 25-foot long and eight to 10-foot deep ditch to install a French drain to keep water that was seeping from a nearby ditch into his crawl space. A large slab of earth from one of the trench walls collapsed.

Lindsay is a contributing reporter covering a little bit of everything; with an interest in local policies and politics, the environment and amplifying community voices. She's curious about uncovering the "whys" of our region and aims to inform the community about the issues that matter. In her free time, you can find her snowboarding, cooking or planning the next surf trip.