Trash Collector Falls off Truck Injures Self

A crowd of more than 100 gathered in front of Thayer Hall yesterday when an garbage collector fell more than a dozen feet onto his head, witnesses said.

The garbage collector, an employee of the Harvard contracted garbage collection agency Browning-Faris Industries, was rushed by ambulance to Cambridge City Hospital, but was relased yesterday evening. Officials declined to release the employee's name.

According to witnesses, the worker was standing on the truck's back ledge when he lost his balance and fell head first onto the pavement.

"He was trying to reach down and put something that was caught on the side into the back of the truck, when he lost his balance, missed with his hand and careened off the back, landing right down on his skull," said Canaday resident Joseph Howard '89, who reported the accident to Harvard University Police.