Wife finds man dead after mini-excavator rolls over and traps him, SC officials say

A man’s wife found him dead underneath a mini-excavator about an hour-and-a-half after he went out to clear some trees on their property, according to a South Carolina fire department.

The woman found him at around 5:20 p.m. on Dec. 27 at the end of Firebird Lane in Walterboro and called 911, according to Colleton County Fire-Rescue.

The man was showing “no signs of life” when firefighters arrived, the release says. The Colleton County Coroner’s Office responded to the scene.

Firefighters used a jack and cribbing to lift the machine off of the man, according to a release from the fire rescue department. A cribbing is a temporary wooden structure used to support heavy objects during relocation.

The man went out to clear some trees on his property at around 4 p.m., Colleton County Fire-Rescue Chief Barry McRoy told McClatchy News. He had been operating the mini-excavator in a wooded area when it overturned, throwing him from the machine and rolling over him, the fire-rescue department said. It is unclear how long he was trapped underneath.

The man was not identified in the release.

The Colleton County coroner did not immediately respond to a message left by McClatchy News.

Walterboro is a small city in South Carolina’s Lowcountry about 50 miles west of Charleston.

This story was originally published December 30, 2022 at 12:02 PM with the headline "Wife finds man dead after mini-excavator rolls over and traps him, SC officials say."