Worker crushed at Forsyth County antiques market
A 38-year-old employee of a Forsyth County antiques market died after being crushed by a piece of heavy machinery, authorities said.
Jose Rodriguez-Duarte was working Friday afternoon at the Lakewood 400 Antiques Market in Cumming when the metal pill presser, fell onto him and crushed him, Nickie Stockel, Forsyth County deputy coroner, told the AJC.
Rodriguez-Duarte, Mexico native who lived in Buford, apparently sat on a trailer, which shifted the weight and caused the machine to tip over, Barbara Spivia said Tuesday evening. Spivia owns the antiques market with her husband.
"We were all devastated," Spivia said. "It was just a freak accident."
Spivia said no one saw the machinery fall onto Rodriguez-Duarte, but dealers at the market helped lift the equipment off the man. A bystander administered CPR on the victim, who was conscious when emergency responders arrived and transported him to North Fulton Hospital.
He died around 8 p.m. Friday, Stockel said.
Rodriguez-Duarte, who had been in the U.S. for 15 years, had worked for Spivia and her husband, Ed, for nine years and had other relatives nearby. He was not married and had no children, Barbara Spivia said.
She said she was grateful for the quick response from sheriff deputies, firefighters and paramedics Friday afternoon that rushed to help a man she called "a part of the Lakewood family."
"He was great," Spivia said. "He was a super nice man."
A memorial service will be planned locally before Rodriguez-Duarte's body is transported back to Mexico for burial, Spivia said.
The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the cause of the accident, Stockel said.
