ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 26, 1997 TAG: 9704280086
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: VIENNA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
The man's co-workers were busy elsewhere in the yard when the accident occurred and did not see it.
A 24-year-old tree service worker was chopped to death by a wood chipper while helping to remove a maple tree at a home, police said.
The victim of Wednesday's accident, Charles D. Garrison of Laurel, Md., apparently became caught in the machine's churning blades.
``Apparently, he was dragged into the machine without time to grab the safety bar,'' said police Capt. J.W. Cheyne. ``There were no witnesses.''
Fred Streb, a retired pilot who lives across the street from the accident site, alerted police around 4 p.m. when two of the man's co-workers rushed to his door.
Streb said he could not understand what the men, who spoke Spanish, were trying to tell him. But they motioned to the large shredding machine, and Streb went over to look.
``I've never seen anything that bad,'' said Streb. ``I saw pieces of body and clothing parts. ... It was obvious that human body parts had been spit out.''
Cheyne said the co-workers were busy elsewhere in the yard when the accident occurred and did not see it.
The body was identified Thursday through fingerprints, police said.
The Virginia Department of Labor and Industry will investigate the death to determine whether safety measures were followed, Cheyne said.
Neither Garrison's family nor his employer could be reached for comment.
Timothy Ward said he hired the tree-service company to cut down the maple and trim some other trees around his house. He and his wife were not at home when the accident occurred.
``I don't know how it could have happened,'' Ward said. ``It's not like anything I've ever heard of happening before.''
LENGTH: Short : 46 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB