Weekly Toll: Death in the American Workplace

Worker dies after hit by truck at Swift plant

Dec. 28, Greely, CO - Authorities in Greeley say a man working at the JBS Swift & Co. plant died after a semitrailer backed into him in a loading dock. Police believe 42-year-old David Peter Volpe, Jr. had been operating a fork lift Saturday evening when he got off the vehicle for an unknown reason. It appears that he was pinned behind the truck as it backed up to the loading dock.


Worker dies after fall from Downtown building

Dec. 27, Pittsburgh, PA - A worker died this morning after falling several floors from a Downtown building, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's office said. Scott Oswald, 40, of the South Side, died at Allegheny General Hospital less than an hour after falling from the Keystone Lofts building at 10th Street and Exchange Way at about 8 a.m. Oswald was working at the building when he apparently slipped on a wet roof and fell into Exchange Way, an alley.


APPD Sergeant Dies While On Duty

Dec. 25, Tampa Bay, FL - AVON PARK Police Sgt. Marc Wilbur fell unconscious and later died about 9 a.m. Thursday, according to Avon Park Police Cmdr. Mike Rowan. Wilbur, 43, began his shift at about 6 a.m. and was on duty in the Winn-Dixie shopping plaza, accompanied by a police officer trainee, said Rowan on Friday. Wilbur slipped into unconsciousness and the trainee called emergency dispatch. He was transported by Highlands County Emergency Medical Services to Florida Hospital Heartland Division, where he was pronounced dead.
Wilbur was a 12-year veteran of the force.


Convenience store clerk fatally shot

Dec. 27, Camarillo, CA - The night before he was shot to death at a Ventura convenience store, Sean Odle left a Christmas celebration at his uncle’s home with his arms full of leftover food and desserts. Odle wasn’t enthusiastic about going to work at the store, but he was a responsible guy who didn’t want to be fired, so he left the small family party in Ventura in time to begin his graveyard shift at 10 p.m., his uncle, Alan Odle, said Friday. Sean Odle, 30, was nearing the end of his shift working as a clerk at Circle K, 3506 E. Main St., about 4:25 a.m. Friday when he was shot once in the torso during an attempted robbery, said Sgt. Rick Murray of the Ventura Police Department.


Tanker truck driver killed

Dec. 27, Akron, OH - A tanker truck carrying 3,000 gallons of sulfuric acid crashed into a gully Friday morning along Akron-Peninsula Road, killing the driver and shutting down the Akron road all day. The driver was identified as Shawn Flynn, 44, of Canonsburg, Pa., near Pittsburgh. The driver's body remained in the vehicle until about 4 p.m., when authorities determined it was safe for workers to go into the gully and remove him. ''The good news in this bad situation was that only about 50 gallons of sulfuric acid leaked out. And because of the weather being so cold, the sulfuric acid was sleepy, not volatile.''




Killing of Big & Tall clerks still unsolved

Dec. 26, Wilmington, DE - Jessica Watson's 5-year-old daughter still wonders when her mother is coming home. Four years have passed since Dec. 26, 2004 when Watson, 22, and Matthew Macerato, 18, were gunned down execution-style in the basement of the Casual Male Big & Tall store, where they worked on Kirkwood Highway near Milltown. State police have made no arrests. "She misses her mother very much," Paulette Watson said of her granddaughter, who was just a toddler when her mother was killed.


Two men killed in Dallas, Garland motorist shooting rampage remembered

Dec. 25, Dallas, TX - With the revelation that a former Utah state trooper appears to be behind the deadly rush-hour shooting rampage earlier this week, much of the focus shifted to suspected gunman Brian Smith. But the families of truck driver William Scott Miller, 42, of Frankfort, Ky., and Jorge Lopez, 20, of Rowlett are mourning the loss of two innocent men who had much to live for. Dallas police called Mr. Miller a hero for managing to safely stop his truck along LBJ Freeway despite being mortally wounded Monday night.


Oregon City man dies after his truck tumbled off I-5 in Kelso

Dec. 25, Oregon City, OR - Just days ago, Ryan M. Hair, a 30-year-old Oregon City father of two children, was helping his parents' neighbors put chains on their car to help them drive in the snow. So when they heard that Hair died early Christmas morning at Legacy Emanuel Hospital and Health Center after losing control of his semi-trailer truck and driving off Interstate 5 southbound in Kelso, they were deeply saddened. "He had been talking about having to go up to Washington, but the roads were closed," said Annie Bartel, who had seen him Sunday at his parents' home in Oregon City.


St. Louis Officer Dies

Dec. 24, St. Louis, MO - St. Louis city police are mourning the loss of one of their own this Christmas Eve. Officer Danielle Livingston was 29 and the mother of two young boys. It looked like Officer Livingston was on her way to overcoming a life-threatening injury. She crashed her 2nd district patrol car this summer while responding to a burglary. At this point police are calling her death duty related, although they might never know if her crash played any role in her death.


Boone man killed in store

Dec. 24, Boone, NC - A Boone pawnshop employee was found shot to death Monday night, and authorities are searching for his killer. Jimmy Roberts, 40, was found dead in the Gold and Closeout Connection pawnshop at 499 E. King St., according to Boone police. A relative called police at about 8:30, concerned that Roberts hadn't returned home from work. Boone police and firefighters went to check on him. When they entered the locked business, they found Roberts dead of a gunshot wound.


Worker dies after struck by truck in west Houston

Dec. 24, Houstion, TX - A recycling company worker died today after he was struck by the truck in west Houston, police said. The worker, who has not been identified, fell from a platform on the side of the truck about 10 a.m. along the 7700 block of Woodway near S. Voss, Houston police said. He was hit by the truck and died at the scene. The rainy weather may have caused the platform to be slick, Houston police said. The accident remains under investigation, police said.


Man crushed to death beneath truck identified

Dec. 26, Costa Mesa, CA – A man crushed to death Wednesday outside his workplace in Costa Mesa has been identified as Alvin Gerk, 30, of Huntington Beach. Gerk was working on the underside of a full-size truck when it came loose and crushed him, said Sgt. Bryan Glass of the Costa Mesa police. The accident took place around 6:40 a.m. Wednesday in the parking lot outside of 833 W. 17th St. Police were going in and out of a diesel generator company in Unit 3. The accident took place outside Gerk's company, AG Mobile.


Weekend Storms Claim Life Of State Snowplow Operator

Dec. 24, Pittsfield, MA — The weekend winter storms have claimed the life of a state highway plow operator. The operator, identified as 58-year-old Dennis LaChapelle of Becket, was discovered slumped over the wheel of his truck early Saturday morning in a field on Route 41 in Pittsfield. Pittsfield fire officials, who were among the first responders, suggested that Chapelle may have suffered a heart attack and lost control of his truck. The exact cause of death is unknown.


McDonald's stabbing victim dies of wounds

Dec. 24, Silver City, NM — A Silver City youth died early Tuesday morning from injuries he sustained in a stabbing incident at a McDonald's restaurant Sunday evening. According to the Silver City Police Department, Javier Ramos Jr., 16, died at approximately 3 a.m. at Thomason Hospital in El Paso. Ramos, an employee at McDonald's, was allegedly stabbed three times Sunday afternoon by his 31-year-old co-worker, Judy Maldonado, the preliminary investigation revealed.


Worker crushed by bucket on skid loader is identified

Dec. 23, St. Paul, MN - A 27-year-old man who died Monday after he was crushed by a piece of equipment while on the job in Prior Lake has been identified by the Scott County Sheriff's Office. Nathan John Vandewege of Rosemount was trying to change the bucket on a skid loader around 2 p.m. when he was pinned between the bucket and the cab of the machine. He was an employee of Applied Ecological Services Inc. in the 21000 block of Mushtown Road.


Worker killed in fire

Dec. 24, North Syracuse, NY - A fire at a local business claimed a Liverpool man's life. Firefighters pulled Kevin Tompkins, 46, out of the Furniture Shop in Cicero Tuesday afternoon. They say there was heavy smoke and flames when they arrived, and Tompkins likely suffered smoke inhalation, causing his death.


One killed, another injured in construction accident in Whitfield

Dec. 22, Dalton, GA - A Chatsworth man was killed in a construction accident off Highway 41 South Monday afternoon and another man was in critical condition in a Dalton hospital Monday night. Glenn Stone, 44, of 1592 Goswick Road, was helping steady a metal utility pole that was being put up to serve as a flagpole at Dalton Plaza South, a shopping area near the Carbondale exit off I-75, according to a fellow worker. He was apparently electrocuted. Whitfield County coroner Bobbie Dixon said Stone was pronounced dead at 5:17 p.m. Dan Driscoll, who was helping on the project, said the pole was being put in place with the use of a tractor with a bucket on the front when the pole began to fall into a set of power lines.

Ashly Jonson was a mispost and was lost do to cancer. However we feel morally this lost is as important as any other so we are leaving the post with a correction.

Man pulled from Pueblo building collapse dies

Dec. 28, Pueblo, CO - The last man pulled from the wreckage of a Pueblo explosion last month has died, just days after being released from the hospital. The Branch Inn explosion happened Nov. 13, just moments after Roney entered the hotel's bar and ordered a beer. The thunderous blast leveled the bar and an adjoining boutique. A worker in the dress shop, 22-year-old Ashley Johnson, was killed. http://www.examiner.com/a1765365~Man_pulled_from_Pueblo_building_collapse_dies.html