Federal officials investigate fatal bridge demolition

COVINGTON, Ga. (AP) — Federal workplace safety officials are investigating a bridge demolition accident in Georgia that injured two workers and killed one man who relatives described as a loving father.

The injured workers were in critical condition, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Demario Battle, 33, was identified Wednesday as the man who died when part of the bridge fell into the Yellow River on Tuesday evening, news outlets reported. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating.

Battle had recently taken a job with the concrete-cutting company that was working on the bridge, his cousin Kiwii Ashmeade told WSB-TV.

“It just tears me up because he has children. He was trying to do right,” she said.

Battle had nine children between the ages of 3 and 15, his aunt Barbara Dais told WXIA-TV.

"He was caring, loving, he took care of his kids,” Battle’s brother, Antoine Jacquin Morrison, told WXIA.

Work had begun Monday on the Access Road bridge on Interstate 20 in Newton County, east of Atlanta, according to the state Department of Transportation. Demolition had been expected to take nine months.