Pennsylvania Trucker Working Alone Killed by Forklift

April 17, 2009

A coroner says a Pennsylvania trucker loading lumber onto his tractor trailer was killed when he fell, setting a forklift in motion that crushed the man between the lift’s boom and its roof.

Forty-year-old Shannon McGarvey, of Coalport, was killed Tuesday morning at the George W. Long & Sons lumberyard in northern Cambria County.

The county coroner says McGarvey fell off his truck and onto the forklift’s controls, causing the boom to start moving. McGarvey was positioned in such a way that his chest was crushed against the forklift’s roof as the boom raised.

A passer-by saw McGarvey pinned by the lift and called police.

The coroner says McGarvey was an independent trucker who often worked alone loading his truck.

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Information from: The Tribune-Democrat