Weekly Toll:Death in the American Workplace

Young Farmer Dies When Caught in Machinery

October 24, NEWVILLE, PA - 19 year old Mark Weaver died after he became tangled in a harvesting combine. Weaver was harvesting corn when the combine became clogged. He got out of the cab to clear the clog but became caught in the auger at the front of the machine. Weaver died on site of multiple traumatic injuries.


Farmer Dies in Equipment Incident

October 24, FAIRHAVEN, MI - 60 year old Merlin Yoder died Monday after an incident with farm machinery. The sheriff's office reports that Yoder died after becoming entrangled in a John Deere combine machine. Details to the circumstances were not given.


Janitor Found Shot Inside Office

October 23, SEARCY, AR - 24 year old Zachary Mitchell was shot to death Sunday while he was working inside the Nephrology Associates office. The same office where his mother worked. Mitchell was a janitor at the office and was there alone cleaning. Friends went by to visit Mitchell and discovered he had been shot. Now his family waits for answers. Police are investigating.


Man Collapses While Setting up For Wedding

October 22, SCHAUMBURG, IL - 29 year old Brett Anderson collapsed and died while he was setting up his DJ equipment for a wedding Saturday. Anderson who was also a bartender, had been a DJ for many years. Friends say he had a low grade fever for several days before he collapsed but do not know if that contributed to his fatal collapse.


Worker Dies of Head Trauma

October 22, CHICAGO, IL - 26 year old Marcos Canizales died Saturday of head injuries. Canizales, a Comcast employee, was working in the Humboldt Park neighborhood when he fell from a ladder and landed on his head. Canizales' co-workers called for help, and he was transported to an area hospital where he died.


Worker Killed on Road Construction Project

October 22, GREAT FALLS, MT - 31 year old Jacob Wayne Fellman was killed Saturday while working on a road construction project on Black Eagle Road. Fellman was died after being struck by a dump truck. Fellman was employed by United Materials.


Firefighter Dies of Unknown Cause

October 22, FAIRFAX, VA - 49 year old Horace Pendergrass was found dead inside a bunkroom of the Fairfax County Crosspointe Fire Station Saturday. No cause of death is known but authorities do not feel the circumstances were suspicious.


Worker Dies in Fall From Building Roof

October 22, JACKSONVILLE, FL - 52 year old Thomas Patrick Weisflog of St. Augustine died Saturday after falling from the roof of the St. John's County jail building. Weisflog, an employee for K.P. Meiring Company, was working on the building when he fell. He was lifeflighted to a hospital where he died.


Taxi Driver Killed in Dispute With Passenger

October 22, PRINCE GEORGE COUNTY, MD - 40 year old Domingo Ezirike died after being shot by a passenger who argued with him over the fair for a ride. After the passenger did not pay the final $.75 of the fair, the two got into an argument and the passenger ended up shooting Ezirike before running off. The suspect has been arrested.


Worker Crushed Under Runaway Rail Car

October 21, SAN ANTONIO, TX - 27 year old Mario Perales died after being crushed under a rail car that he tried to stop. Perales was a team leader for Green Metals, a recycling company on Toyota property. According to a police report, Perales was running after a train car that got loose, to try to pull the emergency brake. Police say because it was dark Perales may not have seen clearly what was happening and the car derailed and fell onto him.


Family Owned Business Owner Dies in Incident

October 21, OHIO, IL - 41 year old Bill Sisler died after being pinned under a wall he was attempting to move Friday. He was part of the Sisler Dairy Products/Ice Cream Co. and was working at the plant. Authorities say the plant has walls that can move to make a room smaller or larger. It appears as if Sisler was on a ladder, removing screws from the wall so he could move it, when the wall fell, hitting the ladder and ultimately pinning Sisler underneath the wall.


Sanitation Worker Dies in Explosion

October 21, FLORENCE, KY - an unidentified man died of head injuries and a co-worker injured when a explosion occurred inside a manhole. The crew was performing contract work for Sanitation District 1 and were inside a manhole testing seams on a sewer pipe. The crew was using a rubber bladder pressurized with air to test the seams in the pipe, but the bladder gave way and caused the explosion. It appears the crew worked for Lawrence Construction.


Driver Dies at Geothermal Steamfield

October 20, LAKE COUNTY, CA - 57 year old Eugene "Corky" Bracisco died as the result of a work truck crash near Calpine's The Geyser's geothermal steamfield Thursday. He missed an afternoon meeting and his wife reported that he didn't come home after work, so a search began for Bracisco. The search eventually located Bracisco's work truck, which had slipped down into a ravine on Calpine property just over the Sonoma County line. The Lake County Sheriff's report said Bracisco had died by the time he was found.


Hotel Owner Murdered by Someone He was Helping

October 20, GOSHEN, IN - 51 year old Kiran "Ken" Patel was found dead inside one of his hotel rooms after family couldn't find him. Patel was owner of the Garden Inn as well as other properties and he was known for helping homeless people get back on their feet by allowing them to stay in one of his hotel rooms. Patel was murdered by one of those homeless people who he had hired to help with a renovation project and allowed to stay on property while he was working. The man accused of murdering Patel has been arrested.


Man Dies of Injuries in Fall

October 20, BUCKHANNON, WV - 44 year old Mike Atkinson of Pennsylvania died of injuries he suffered Oct. 17. Atkinson fell 40 feet to the bottom of a silo while doing routine maintenance at the Weyerhaeuser wood products plant on TJM Drive. Atkinson was performing the work while the plant was shut down.


Logging Incident Kills Man

October 20, FILLMORE, MN - 60 year old Kenneth Erding suffered fatal crushing injuries when a tree fell onto him while logging. There was evidence that Erding had partially cut at least one tree and was cutting another when the tree fell on top of him. Moderate winds may have caused the tree to fall.


Underwater Welder Dies When Equipment Tangles

October 19, GARRISON, ND - 32 year old Joseph Gould of Brook Park, MN drowned Wednesday in Lake Sakakawea in North Dakota. Gould was installing pipe 125 feet below the surface of the lake when his equipment became entangled. A co-worker tried unsuccessfully to free him, and he was unable to surface. Gould was employed by Midco Diving Co. out of Rapid City, SD.


Worker Identified

October 19, MINNETRISTA, MN - 61 year old Mark W. Allen of Wayzata has been identified as the worker who was crushed in a garbage truck. Co-workers found Allen pinned in the hydraulic arm of a garbage truck when they showed up at Blackowiak Disposal Wednesday morning. Allen was listed as an unidentified worker in last week's Weekly Toll.






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