Community Corner

Remembering Trash Truck Crash Victim Ricco Rios

His family and friends gathered to celebrate his life on that day before what would have been his birthday.

Family and friends of Ricco Rios, the Norristown man who died in July of 2013 after a trash truck driven by his coworker fell on its side and struck trees in Hilltown township, gathered on Sunday at the intersection where Rios died to remember him, one day before what would have been his 25th birthday.

They put together a remembrance memorial with a cross, flowers and stuffed animals for Rios that afternoon at the accident site off of the intersection of Bypass Road and Dublin Road, where the driver allegedly ran a stop sign and tried to make a turn before the trash truck fell into a ditch.

The driver, Adam Bermudez, 28, of East Norriton, faces charges of homicide by vehicle, unlawful activities while using a cell phone, involuntary manslaughter and other charges.

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According to Rios’s mother, Debi Gennaro Rios, her son had told the family several times that he was worried about Bermudez’s phone use while on the job. “He kept saying ‘Mom, I think something’s going to happen,’” she said.

Gennaro Rios has now lost two sons. Her son Ricco leaves behind his toddler son, who he doted on. “All he did was work and come home and take care of his son,” Gennaro Rios said.

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Family members wore Rios’s hats in remembrance and his cousin, a tattoo artist, designed special t-shirts that many of those present wore. Messages were written on white helium balloons, which were released into the sky.

“I wish there was more that we could do to honor him,” said Rios’s cousin. “He’d do anything for anyone at the drop of a dime.”

 

 


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