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Body of Columbia truck driver, veteran found in Sumter County
State (Columbia, SC) - 7/24/2014
July 24--SUMTER, S.C. -- Officials are still looking into the cause of death of a utility worker who was found at Pocotaligo Wastewater Treatment Plant on Wednesday.
Shortly before noon, a pair of workers were doing their three-hour checks of the grounds at the plant when they discovered the body of an A Mobile Storage Co. truck driver at one of its dump receptacles.
According to a co-worker with the storage company, the deceased is Joe Wyatt, a Columbia resident and retired military veteran who had been working with the company for several years.
Sumter County Sheriff's Office deputies and EMTs with Sumter County EMS responded to the scene quickly, but it appeared Wyatt had been dead for quite some time. Sumter County Coroner Harvin Bullock said nothing seemed amiss in Wyatt's death.
"There doesn't appear to be any foul play involved," Bullock said. "There's no sign of trauma at all. We'll have to do an autopsy to determine the cause of death."
Willie Burgess, an alternate driver with A Mobile Storage Co., spoke with the men who discovered Wyatt's body and said efforts were made to save him.
"One of the men who found him tried to perform CPR," Burgess said. "But there was nothing they could do for him."
Burgess and mechanic Robert Dwyer said they'd known Wyatt for years and spoke fondly of him as they looked on.
"He was a good man," Burgess said, smiling. "He'd do a lot of talking, but he was a hard worker. He was always 100 percent serious about his job." "And when it came to directions, he was better than a GPS," Dwyer said. "He always had that military part in him, following the rules to a 'T.'" Both men said Wyatt was very close to his family.
"He was a big family man," Dwyer said. "He's got kids, grandkids ..."
"This is going to affect a whole lot of people," Burgess said. "He's going to be missed."
Bullock said he was informed that Wyatt had checked in to the facility about 10 a.m., but had not been heard from until his body was found a couple hours later.
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