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Efforts to reattach a worker's legs failed. He was trying to unblock a cardboard baling machine, officials say.
By ANNE LINDBERG, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 6, 2002
PINELLAS PARK -- Surgeons were unable to reattach the feet of a man who became trapped in a cardboard baling machine over the weekend.
Christopher Deon Jackson, 26, of 4701 68th St. N in Lealman, was flown to Tampa General Hospital on Saturday after paramedics extricated him. Jackson, a recent employee of Kane's Furniture, was being trained on the machine when the accident happened.
It's unclear how Jackson got his legs tangled. The baler crumples the cardboard boxes for furniture into large bundles and wraps them with wire. Officials think Jackson tried to dislodge a jam with his feet.
Witnesses said they didn't see Jackson climb onto the machine, but told Pinellas Park police they turned around when they heard him screaming and saw him inside the hopper atop the baler. A co-worker pushed the emergency stop button and called paramedics.
Jackson's left leg was cut off below the knee. His right foot also was severed.
Jackson was still hospitalized and unable to comment Monday. But a woman who identified herself as his wife said attempts to reattach the limbs had failed. She referred other questions to Jackson's mother, who declined to comment.
Jim Humboldt, a Kane's vice president, did not return phone messages asking for comment.
Also failing to return phone messages was an official from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which investigates industrial accidents.
Many questions about the accident remain unanswered, but police provided this report:
Jackson had begun working for Kane's on Jan. 25 as a driver helper. He was transferred to quality assurance on Feb. 26 and began training to use the compactor/baler. Training usually takes two weeks.
Jackson had been working with Richard Matthew Greenough for about a week. Greenough left to go to the men's room, telling Jackson to keep putting cardboard into the hopper. He was still in the men's room when someone told him Jackson had been hurt. (Greenough could not be reached for comment.)
Alan Taylor told police he was working on the baling machine next to Jackson's.
"Taylor told me the last time he saw Jackson was next to him and shortly thereafter heard Jackson screaming," reads the police report. "Taylor stated he looked over and could just see Jackson inside the hopper, at which time he pushed the emergency stop on Jackson's machine . . . . Several people ran over to assist Jackson."
The report goes on: "I asked Taylor why Jackson would have been inside the hopper and he stated there may have been some cardboard jammed and he was attempting to free it.
"Taylor stated he has used that machine in the past but uses a broomstick to free the cardboard that jams. He stated he has never seen anyone actually in the hopper before and had not been taught that way."
When Pinellas Park paramedics arrived, Jackson was still trapped in the hopper and screaming.
Because Jackson weighs about 350 pounds, firefighters had to use a "people mover" to lift him out of the hopper, which was several feet off the ground.
The people mover "looks like a king-size corset," Pinellas Park fire Chief Ken Cramer said. It has bracing and handles to make it easier to lift people.
"The guy was awake and alert throughout this whole thing and in a lot of pain," said Art Winquist, a Pinellas Park district fire chief who was called to the scene. "It's just tragic for this guy."
Jackson was loaded into a Bayflite helicopter and flown to Tampa General because that hospital is considered the best for reattaching limbs, Cramer said.