HARTFORD — A 61-year-old street sweeper operator who ran over a 28-year-old construction worker with his vehicle last year accepted a plea deal of four years of probation, possibly avoiding jail time if the conditions are met.
Police determined that James Dyer reversed the vehicle at a higher-than-normal rate of speed and neglected to use the backup camera, just one day after an accident where he struck a motorist’s vehicle with the same street sweeper.
James Dyer originally faced two charges related to hitting the road worker: a felony of gross negligent vehicle operation causing serious injury and a misdemeanor of negligent vehicle operation causing serious injury. He initially pleaded not guilty to both charges in September 2025.
After he pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor on Friday, the state dismissed the felony charge.
On April 25, 2025, Dyer was operating a street sweeper truck near 2346 Quechee Main Street for West Windsor-based Waters Excavation Inc., which was subcontracting for Pike Industries.
Hartford Police Officer Jonathan Cyran reported in an affidavit that Dyer had struck a construction worker while reversing the vehicle, causing what Cyran observed to be life-threatening injuries.
At the time of the incident, workers were ripping up the top layer of the road for repaving. The weather was cloudy and dry, and the eastbound lane of travel was closed, with flaggers managing traffic in the westbound lane, court records indicate.
Emergency personnel responded to a report that a construction worker had been run over. Dispatch specified that the victim was conscious, alert and breathing, but had intestines exposed following the accident, the affidavit stated.
Upon arrival, Cyran observed the victim lying in the middle of the eastbound lane behind a commercial street sweeper — a white Isuzu truck — as Hartford EMS provided lifesaving care. Cyran also observed a large laceration from the victim’s upper right abdomen to their groin, running down their leg.
Dyer told police he had hit the victim suddenly while backing up the street sweeper, Cyran wrote. According to the affidavit, he said he was looking at the side-view mirrors at the time of the accident, but not the rear backup camera.
Another construction worker reported hearing screaming, then seeing the victim had been run over. He reported that other workers stopped Dyer from backing up any farther, and the vehicle pulled forward off the victim. Several other nearby employees reported that they did not see the incident directly, Cyran wrote.
Waters Excavation Inc. did not respond to a Monday morning comment request, though the affidavit notes that the company’s administrative staff confirmed the rear camera “was working and operational while on scene.”
Video footage from a residence captured a majority of the incident, the affidavit stated. From it, Cyran observed the victim in the roadway directing people off screen. He saw the street sweeper reverse at a “higher-than-normal rate of speed,” he wrote, though he did not indicate how many miles per hour.
The force of the vehicle knocked the hard hat off the victim’s head and threw their body to the ground, Cyran wrote, adding that the vehicle continued backward about 15 to 25 feet off camera, then forward back into view.
The day before this incident, Dyer had been involved in another crash while driving the same street sweeper.
In an April 24, 2025, crash report, Officer Tyler Gibbons wrote that he responded to a two-vehicle collision on Quechee Main Street that caused property damage, but no injuries.
In this case, Dyer told police he “failed to observe” a Volvo stopped in the roadway and backed into its rear, according to Gibbons’ crash report.
The person police say Dyer ran over was a witness to the prior accident.
“[The witness] stated that an unrelated vehicle failed to obey construction flaggers causing a disruption with the flow of traffic,” Gibbons wrote in his report.
Based on the facts, Gibbons determined that Dyer caused the collision, but he noted no signs of impairment and took no court action.
In the second incident, where the street sweeper injured a construction worker, Vermont State Police issued Dyer a citation to appear in Windsor Superior Court, before Judge Elizabeth Mann.
His original felony charge carried a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and a $15,000 fine. The misdemeanor carried a maximum sentence of two years in prison and a $3,000 fine.
Although Dyer was sentenced to between four and 18 months in jail, the court suspended the entire sentence and imposed four years of probation.
Some of Dyer’s probation conditions related to vehicle operation include that he shall not operate a motor vehicle with any alcohol in his system; shall complete an approved safe driving program as directed; shall not operate a motor vehicle on a public highway without a valid license; shall not violate any civil motor vehicle law that involved speeding or reckless driving; and shall inform his probation officer if employment requires regular vehicle operation.
If conditions of the probation are violated, a judge can order Dyer to serve some or all of his suspended sentence. Reached Monday by phone, Dyer declined to comment.
The Valley News contacted a number associated with the victim in court records but did not receive a response as of Monday. The status of their recovery is unclear.
