As rel­a­tives gath­ered in grief and si­lence, Shawn Black­burn stood on the road­side car­ry­ing a bur­den no par­ent should ever have to bear—the loss of a child.

Wait­ing for the ar­rival of his son’s body at their Spring­vale, Clax­ton Bay home yes­ter­day, Black­burn fought back emo­tion as he spoke about the death of his son, 20-year-old san­i­ta­tion work­er De­shawn Joseph, who was crushed by a re­vers­ing garbage truck while on du­ty in Kel­ly Vil­lage, Ca­roni, on Tues­day night.

“I just want to bury my son, that’s all I want to do,” Black­burn said, his voice heavy with an­guish. “But I’m go­ing through this process. I want to bury my son, and when I’m done here, I want to deal with it.”