Workers in construction zones and others areas where they are exposed to traffic are can-do people. They get out there and do their jobs, even though the negligence of others can put their lives at risk.

Yesterday, in Quincy, such negligence claimed the life of a well-loved member of one of the city's bedrock families.

Bobby DeCristofaro, a 58-year-old city worker, was out doing his job, as he had for the past 25 years. He was up in bucket truck, twenty feet in the air, fixing a traffic light on Route 3A.

But then a tractor-trailer heading south hit the bucket truck and knocked DeChristofaro to the hard pavement. He died from the fall.

"I heard a loud bang," said a witness, Kyle Owens. "And when I looked up, the guy in the bucket was gone, and the boom was swaying."

Quincy Police took the driver of the tractor-trailer rig into custody. He will be tested for drugs and alcohol. This is standard procedure after a fatal truck accident.

Meanwhile, people throughout Quincy and elsewhere in Massachusetts are mourning the loss of Bobby DeCristofaro. Dan Raymondi, the commissioner of public works for the city, said what many feel: "They're a wonderful family, Bobby, his sister, his cousin."

The loss of someone so deeply connected to the city hurts on so many levels. "He was our traffic guy," said Commissioner Raymondi, "but he was also the guy who lights up the city for the holidays. Very few people can do what Bobby can do."

That is indeed so. This is a big loss to all of Quincy, and an especially deep loss to Bobby DeCristofaro's family.

Our law firm has experience in wrongful death cases like this, and we know how they impact family members emotionally. Dealing with the death begins by acknowledging the unique loss of an irreplaceable person.

Source: "Quincy Worker Killed in Fall From Bucket Truck," CBS Boston, 10-18-11