HUTCHINSON, KS — Officials have named Sam Bontrager as the man that was hurt in an accident at Feedex in Hutchinson, Kansas on Monday, June 8th, 2015. Reports from surrounding areas said that the accident happened sometime Monday afternoon.
Right now, officials think 61-year-old Sam Bontrager was hurt when he was hit in the head by a forklift attachment that shifted when he was shaking out a two-ton feed bag at Feedex Companies LLC on East Wasp Road. The equipment is believed to have fallen about six feet when it hit Bontrager in the head.
Bontrager was taken to Hutchinson Regional Medical Center where he was being treated.
The investigation is still ongoing at this time.
Scene of the Accident
View of the Road
Commentary:
The news indicated that a pined that fixed the forklift attachment had fallen out, which resulted in the equipment falling and hitting the victim. If this information turns out to be what happened, I could see the situation going one of two ways. One one side of the coin, the manufacturer of the equipment may be responsible if the pin used to hold the device was faulty, or improperly fit within the housing it slides into. The news reports of vehicle defects and crib or stroller recalls all the time, but not everyone has a forklift with a bag-handler parked in their garage, so these kinds of defects fly under the media’s radar more often than not. If the pin or equipment was faulty, holding the manufacturer liable may discourage them from releasing potentially dangerous products in the future. If a little more product testing could have prevented this accident, shouldn’t the company answer for situations like this.
On the other side of the coin, the establishment that owned and operated the equipment may be at fault. If somebody decided to do their job half-heartedly and didn’t slide the pin that holds this machinery in all the way, then the business could bear the liability.
All it would take to know is looking in the right places, and asking the right people the right questions, and soon. This kind of evidence has a way of evaporating quickly.
— Grossman Law Offices
