Police in Michigan say a man died Tuesday after he was pulled into a wood chipper when his jacket became stuck on a branch he was feeding into the machine.
The 48-year-old man was working at a home in West Bloomfield with two other co-workers when the incident took place around 9:00 a.m, according to Fox 2.
The men turned off the chipper and dialed 911, Fox 2 reports.
“(We received a 911 call) from an individual that said his co-worker had been found inside of a wood chipper,” Deputy Chief Curt Lawson of the West Bloomfield Police Department told Fox 2.
First responders rushed to the scene while the man was still conscious and used a tourniquet on an unknown body part in an attempt to save the man. While on the way to the hospital, the man succumbed to his injuries, according to M Live.
His death has prompted investigations by the West Bloomfield Police and Michigan Occupations Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA), according to Fox 2.
“Every indication at this point is that his jacket may have been caught on a branch that was being fed into the wood chipper,” Lawson told Fox 2.
Police are looking into the wood chipper to see if the machinery malfunctioned.
“We’ve taken an extensive amount of pictures of the equipment to make sure it was operating the way it should have been operating,” he told Fox 2. “We’ve interviewed everyone who was at the scene.”
The name of the worker and the company he was working for have not been released to the public, according to M Live.
Lawson sent his regards to the deceased man’s family and co-workers.
“Our hearts go out to the workers on the scene and of course the victim’s family,” he told Fox 2.
