NEW ORLEANS (AP) – A judge in New Orleans has ordered Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. to pay more than $6.7 million in damages in the death of a garbage truck driver killed when a tire he was inflating exploded.

Elwood Breaux Jr. was working for Plaquemines Parish when the “zipper failure” — named for a long sidewall rip with protruding metal reinforcement — occurred. Escaping air slammed Breaux backward on Feb. 5, 2014. He died 28 days later of massive internal injuries to his chest and abdomen.

State District Judge Michael Clement calculated damages to Breaux, his five children and his wife at $6.7 million. But New Orleans attorney Danny Meeks, who represented the family, said about $481,000 of that will reimburse the parish for workers’ compensation. State law will return some of that to the family’s share and judicial interest will add at least $1.4 million to the total.

Clement ruled that Goodyear failed to adequately warn the parish that an underpressurized tire might explode during inflation.