BATON ROUGE - A sanitation worker was hit by a vehicle Thursday (Dec. 17) morning on Perkins Road near Essen Lane while on the job.

The incident occurred shortly after 9 a.m. when a distracted driver of an SUV swiped the back of the garbage truck.  Police said the driver was not paying attention and, when they noticed the garbage truck, attempted to swerve to miss it, but hit the truck near where a sanitation worker was standing. 

The worker was thrown from the vehicle.  The sanitation worker was taken to a hospital.  They are expected to recover.  

The driver of the SUV was issued a ticket for careless driving.