Martinez woman crushed by gravel truck was pregnant 
 
 A 32-year-old woman who was fatally crushed by a falling gravel trailer in her Martinez driveway was planning to have the first ultrasound scan of her pregnancy this week, her grieving fiance said Tuesday as he questioned what he called a “totally avoidable accident.” 
 
 Lindsey Combs, a hairstylist who was nearly two months pregnant, entered harm’s way Monday afternoon when she was asked to move her car farther away from a city sidewalk project. 
 
 But after she got into the car at about 1 p.m., the gravel trailer tipped on top of her as her 4-year-old daughter looked on, according to police and witness accounts. The incident is under investigation by Martinez authorities and Cal/OSHA, the state workplace safety regulator. 
 
 “I am devastated, upset, mostly upset that this was totally avoidable,” said the girl’s father and Combs’ fiance, 39-year-old Anderson Pamilton, in an interview Tuesday. “Just a roller coaster of emotions.” 
 
 Lindsey Combs, a hairstylist who was two months pregnant, was killed Monday in a construction accident. Lindsey Combs, a hairstylist who was two months pregnant, was killed Monday in a construction accident. Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Martinez woman crushed by gravel truck was pregnant 1 / 5 Back to Gallery 
 
 Pamilton lived with Combs near the intersection of Shell Avenue and Pine Street, where a new sidewalk was being put in by the city-contracted construction crew. She worked in nearby Pleasant Hill, cutting hair at a Sport Clips outlet, which was closed Tuesday so co-workers could grieve. 
 
 “She was a great mother. I envy what she had with my daughter — the bond they had was inseparable,” Pamilton said. 
 
 Cal/OSHA, which has six months to complete its probe, is interviewing witnesses and construction employees in an effort to figure out what went wrong. 
 
 “I know the public wants answers and Cal/OSHA wants answers, too,” said agency spokeswoman Julia Bernstein. 
 
 The construction company under contract with the city is JJR Construction of San Mateo, according to state regulators. The firm is contracted to demolish and build a half-mile stretch of sidewalk along Shell Avenue. The trailer that tipped was rented by the truck’s owner, Daryl Crockett, from Greg’s Trucking Service, Cal/OSHA said. 
 
 Martinez city officials referred calls about the incident to investigators. But Mayor Rob Schroder said the community was shocked and saddened. 
 
 “We got almost 40,000 people in Martinez, but we still think of it as a small town,” he said. “The folks at City Hall were just kind of numb.” 
 
 Friends and neighbors brought flowers to Combs’ and Pamilton’s home on Tuesday. A makeshift memorial grew on the corner. 
 
 “She was so excited about having a baby,” said neighbor Amy Dunbinsky, 64. “They were a young couple trying to make it. It’s devastating. It’s not right.” 
 
 At Sport Clips in Pleasant Hill, fellow workers were shaken up, said owner Ben Mangels. County crisis workers were expected to visit the salon in coming days. 
 
 “It’s like a family member being tragically taken away from us,” Mangels said. 
 
 Combs was an assistant manager and stylist who was one of the first hires when the salon opened six years ago. Combs had the largest following of clients of any employee, and in 2012 won a competition between Sport Clips stylists nationwide, Mangels said. 
 
 “There is a saying in the industry that beauty changes lives,” he said. “ She believed that every day she was changing somebody’s life.” 
 
 Hamed Aleaziz and Kurtis Alexander are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. E-mail: haleaziz@sfchronicle.com kalexander@sfchronicle.com Twitter: haleaziz@twitter.com, @kurtisalexander 
 
 How to help 
 
 Friends of Lindsey Combs have set up an account for the public to contribute to funeral and family expenses. Contributions can be made at www.gofundme.com/lindseycombs 

 MARTINEZ — State and local investigators on Tuesday tried to determine how and why a dump truck carrying gravel toppled over and crushed a car in an adjacent driveway Monday, killing a 32-year-old pregnant woman whose 4-year-old daughter was standing nearby. 
 
 Some neighbors were angered to see work continuing Tuesday morning along Shell Avenue just west of Pine Street into the afternoon, but a city public works official said late Tuesday that construction in the area will be shut down for the rest of the week. 
 
 Lindsey Combs, who relatives said was engaged and expecting her second child, was killed Monday afternoon when the big-rig trailer carrying gravel tipped over as she was moving her car at the request of workers, police said. 
 
 One neighbor, Amy Dunbinsky, said Tuesday that she and other residents felt angry when it appeared the construction work had resumed outside Combs’ home less than 24 hours after she was killed and that it showed a lack of respect. 
 
 But Don Salts, Martinez’s deputy director of public works, said the scene was unsafe when it was shut down after the accident and that more work was needed to safely secure the area. 
 
 Salts said he “completely understands” why bystanders would think the sidewalk work was simply resuming. 
 
 “It’s a terrible tragedy; obviously our prayers go out to the family,” Salts said. 
 
 Work at the site along Shell Avenue had shut down by 3 p.m. Tuesday. 
 
 Robert Combs, Lindsey Combs’ brother, declined to speak about his sister Tuesday, saying that the family was still trying to come to terms with her death. He said Monday that “this could have been avoided.” 
 
 A team from the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health was continuing its work Tuesday. Julia Bernstein, an Oakland-based spokeswoman for Cal/OSHA, wouldn’t share specifics about the investigation Tuesday but said inspectors would focus on whether proper safety precautions were being taken and whether safety laws were being followed. 
 
 A big rig with a large dump trailer filled with gravel was working Monday about 1 p.m. in front of a house in the 800 block of Shell Avenue, a narrow, hilly, winding street. The work was part of the city’s “Alhambra Valley Road Sidewalk Gap Closure and Shell Avenue Pedestrian/Bicycle Improvement Project.” At least some neighbors had received notices in the previous two weeks from project contractor JJR Construction, based in San Mateo. The work, which is supposed to take 30 days, started March 9. 
 
 The driver was raising the trailer to dump the gravel, Martinez police Lt. Aaron Roth said, when the rig tipped over onto Combs’ car in her own driveway. Police said Combs had been asked by a work crew member to move her car moments before the accident. Roth said Combs’ 4-year-old daughter was standing nearby when the car was crushed, but that it isn’t believed the young girl was in imminent physical danger from the tipping truck. 
 
 It took until almost 10 p.m. Monday for big-rig tow trucks to fully clear Shell Avenue. 
 
 Calls ﻿to JJR Construction seeking comment were not returned Tuesday afternoon. Bernstein identified the driver of the truck as Daryl Crockett, an independent contractor who owned the tractor he drove. The trailer Crockett was pulling was owned by Greg’s Trucking of San Mateo, she added. A person at that office said that owner Greg Menna was not available Tuesday afternoon. 
 
 Bernstein said there’s no way of knowing how long Cal/OSHA’s investigation of this accident will take, but that it must be concluded within six months. 
 
 Dunbinsky said the sidewalk and driveway work had been going on in that neighborhood for about two weeks. She arrived home Monday afternoon to find chaos along Shell Avenue, with the road closed, the dump truck tipped over and the car crushed. 
 
 “She was my neighbor for two years,” Dunbinsky said before starting to cry. “I love her to death … she’s bubbly, a truly beautiful person inside and out.” 
 
 She said Combs usually drove her young daughter to preschool every morning and then returned to drive her partner to the BART station later each morning, as they had only one car. 
 
 “I’m angry, and I don’t know who to blame,” Dunbinsky said, amid her tears. “It was not her time to die.” 
 
 Relatives have set up a fundraising site to help bring family from Montana to California for Combs’funeral at www.gofundme.com/psl18k. A second fund to pay for funeral expenses and establish an education fund for Combs’ daughter is at http://www.gofundme.com/lindseycombs. 
 
 Contact Rick Hurd at 925-945-4789 and follow him at Twitter.com/3rdERH. Contact Sam Richards at 925-943-8241 and follow him at Twitter.com/samrichardsWC. 

 Lindsey was taken from us to early in a tragic accident on 3/23/15 while at her home in Martinez. In a well covered news event: Gravel Truck Crushes Car with 32 Yr. Old mother inside I own Sport Clips Haircuts in Pleasant Hill and Lindsey worked with me since I opened this store over 6 years ago. We are working with Wells Fargo in Pleasant Hill to create a funding account to help provide funds for the family. We want to cover funeral costs and have extra left over for Lindsey's 4 year old daughter, Lyric. There is no replacing the mommy of a 4 year old, but we can help provide for Lyric's care and education.Thank you for your kindness and support during this extremely difficult time.Ben 

 New details have emerged about the 32-year-old woman who was killed Monday when a gravel truck toppled over onto her car in front of her Martinez home.Cal/OSHA continues to investigate what caused the truck to fall on top of a mother who was sitting inside her parked car in her driveway Monday afternoon.Lindsey Combs was supposed to be at work here at Sports Clips Monday afternoon. When co-workers found out what happened they immediately closed to give everyone a chance to grieve.For six years, 32-year-old Combs worked at Sports Clips in Pleasant Hill doing what she loved.Ben Mangels, owner of Sports Clips, was Combs' boss and friend he said she had a lot going for her before her life was cut short by a freak accident."There's a saying in the industry that beauty changes lives and Lindsey believed every day that she was she was changing lives," Mangels said."(She had) a 4-year-old daughter, was engaged to be married, had told us two weeks ago she pregnant with her second child. That makes this even more tragic," Mangels added.Back at the scene on the 800 block of Shell Avenue, flowers were place in the driveway where Combs was crushed while trying to move her car. Cal/OSHA says it's still gathering evidence and trying to figure out if safety protocols were followed.The driver of the gravel truck is now dealing with the aftermath."He's completely destroyed over what happened," said Greg Menna, owner of Greg's Trucking Service and the truck in the accident. "I just spoke to him hour ago and he's not handling it well. He was going to retire this coming January 4."Greg Menna says Darrel Crockett worked for him as a sub-contractor for 25 years without any violations. Crockett was driving for JJR Construction when the accident happened Monday afternoon."He felt comfortable with it and it was going up level and something happened. He didn't move, his brakes didn't lock," Menna added.Menna said the trailer had recently been inspected and was deemed safe. He also says Crockett was carrying a legal load of gravel. Click here to donate money to help Combs' family and cover funeral expenses.
– Devastated loved ones and neighbors are demanding answers in the horrific death of Lindsey Combs. The 32-year-old Martinez, Calif., hairstylist was killed in her driveway Monday afternoon when the gravel-filled trailer of a truck working on a city project toppled onto her car and crushed it as her 4-year-old daughter looked on, the Contra Costa Times reports. Her fiance tells the San Francisco Chronicle that she was nearly two months pregnant and was going to have her first ultrasound scan this week. "I'm devastated, upset, mostly upset that this was totally avoidable," he says. A police spokesman tells the Times that the work crew had asked her to move her car moments before the big-rig trailer toppled as the driver raised it to dump the gravel. Local authorities and the state workplace safety regulator are investigating the accident. The owner of Greg's Trucking Service tells ABC7 that the driver involved has worked for him for 25 years without a violation and is "completely destroyed over what happened." "He's not handling it well. He was going to retire this coming Jan. 4," says the owner. He says the gravel load was legal, the driver "felt comfortable with it and it was going up level and something happened. He didn't move, his brakes didn't lock." A fundraising page has been set up to cover funeral costs and help pay for the care of 4-year-old Lyric. (In another freak construction accident, a New Jersey worker was killed by a tape measure.)