A technician in Rochester, NH, was trying to remove the rear wheel off a Ford Expedition when the vehicle fell off the lift and landed on top of him. According to the shop owner, the accident was the result of operator error and not a mechanical failure. Miraculously, the technician did not suffer any broken bones or serious internal injuries.
Below is the article as it appeared on the Foster’s Daily Democrat website.
Rochester repair shop owner glad employee not hurt by falling SUV
By Jake O’Donnell
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
ROCHESTER — The owner of Dave’s Tri-City Towing on Wakefield Street was thankful Tuesday that one of his employees wasn’t more seriously hurt when the Rochester Police supervisor’s command SUV fell off a hydraulic lift and landed on top of him Monday.
Owner Dave Winship said Roy Chabot, a mechanic who’s worked for Tri-City the last four years, was held at Frisbie Memorial Hospital for observation overnight, but Winship said Chabot didn’t suffer any broken bones or serious internal injuries when he was briefly pinned under the SUV at the Tri-City service garage.
Winship said the accident did not happen as a result of a mechanical failure. He called the accident Chabot’s "own error" while working on the rear of the Ford Expedition.
"He was trying to get the rear wheels off the SUV," Winship said. "He was trying to hit the wheels off. I’m not sure if it was a combination of factors of if the cold conditions had something to do with it, but him knocking a wheel off caused the SUV to fall off the lift."
Winship estimated the vehicle fell from a height of at least 6 feet. He heard a crash followed by Chabot yelling and "making sounds I hope I never hear again," he said.
Chabot was laying on his front with the SUV pinned against his back, Winship said. Acting quickly, Winship grabbed a carjack and used it to jack up the vehicle while dialing 911 in the process.
To read this article on the Foster’s Daily Democrat website, visit http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110126/GJNEWS_01/701269934.
