EMPLOYEE CRUSHED TO DEATH BY RIDE, ACCORDING TO REPORT

If you didn’t go to the South Carolina State Fair last week, you didn’t miss much. It was the same old stuff they have every year. Well, except for someone getting killed by a ride… they don’t have that every year.

Officials say an employee contracted to work at the South Carolina State Fair was killed instantly after being crushed by one of the amusement rides while it was in motion.

Officials say around 1pm Sunday, 49-year-old Jeffry Doucleff was behind the ride known as the Inverter when he was hit by it.

General manager Gary Goodman says details leading up to the accident were unclear.

Goodman says Doucleff was doing some measurements behind the ride when the counterweight that helps the ride work correctly crushed him in the back and the chest.

“It just seems to be a tragic accident that happened possibly in a moment of a lapse of attention,” Goodman said.

Goodman says people were on the ride when the accident occurred, but they probably didn’t see what happened.

I like how Goodman is quick to suggest the worker had a “lapse of attention.” You can’t go wrong with implying a dead person caused their own fatality.

“Yup, he probably had a lapse of attention because there’s no way it was our crappy equipment or someone else’s mistake or one of a million possible causes… definitely a lapse of attention.”

Anyway, it’s unfortunate the fair had to end this way. They’ve got a year to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again, hopefully they’ll use it.

(Photo: Angel Photography)