LaGrange farmer crushed by tractor

[Rara Avis]

LaGrange farmer crushed by tractor, suffers several broken bones — Penobscot — Bangor Daily News — BDN Maine

LAGRANGE, Maine A Smith Road cattle farmer suffered several broken bones when he got crushed by a tractor he accidentally kicked into gear while dismounting, officials said Wednesday.

N17 Cattle Co. owner William Nunnally, 40, caught a pant leg on the gearshift and went under a wheel of the multi-ton tractor on Tuesday, said Corporal Darren Mason of the Penobscot County Sheriff's Department.

The tractor did quite a bit of damage to the lower part of his body, LaGrange Fire Chief Michael Bacon said Wednesday.

The accident was reported at 7:45 p.m. A LifeFlight helicopter took Nunnally to Eastern Maine Medical Center, where he was in stable condition following surgery on Wednesday.

The farm is on a narrow, pitted dirt road off Bennoch Road and Pine Grove Lane. The rough road and consideration for the terrible pain Nunnally was suffering forced a Mayo Hospital ambulance to take almost 1½ hours to travel about 1,200 feet to the helicopter, which had landed in a farm field on Bennoch, Bacon said.

Chris Richards, a part-time worker at N17, described the accident as a freak occurrence.

Nunnally, who lives at the farm, operates the tractor every day and had just used it to move a bale of hay to feed his horses, Richards said.

"He's a father of three and he's trying to build this farm for his family," Richards said.

 

[CalG]

We can wish him an his family all the best. He survived! Unfortunate too is the dreary statistics of "loosing the farm" after a serious tractor related injury.

 

[rustyshakelford]

No excuse it took 90 minutes to travel 1200'. Give him some ketamine and 4pt the back board. That's crazy to have that helicopter on the ground for so long and make him wait with probable internal injuries. Sometimes you have to leave the comfort of the a/c in the medic unit and hump it on foot

Brett

 

[oldballs]

Watch those pant legs guys. I've been there and done that without a serious accident. Sometime ( if not really hot) I band the pant legs to avoid the possible snag. Heck even the hammer loop on bibs or work pants have caught on control handles etc. Sometimes I cut that darn loop off to avoid that as well.

 

[aczlan]

No excuse it took 90 minutes to travel 1200'. Give him some ketamine and 4pt the back board. That's crazy to have that helicopter on the ground for so long and make him wait with probable internal injuries. Sometimes you have to leave the comfort of the a/c in the medic unit and hump it on foot

Brett

I agree. Probably more comfortable for him to have 4-6 people carry a backboard than ride in an ambulance...


Aaron Z

 

[PJSprog]

This happened to one of my cousins in the early '80s, although different circumstances. He was plowing and lost his balance while leaning over to look at something, and fell in front of the rear wheel, which broke his pelvis. Fortunately, he was able to roll out of the way before the plow arrived. He made a full recovery, but spent the majority of that summer in a wheel chair.

 

[Thomas]

Dang...speedy recovery thoughts/prayers.

 

[Mace Canute]

I've had shoe laces catch and darn near send me tumbling head first and even a glove with gauntlet snagging on a lever has caused me grief also, but I try to not be in a hurry getting on or off a tractor and that has given me the time needed to take corrective action and I don't have as much momentum if I am going slow. Making sure I have a firm grip on handholds and taking deliberate movements is an old holdover from when I climbed transmission towers in my days as a Lineman.

 

[CalG]

I agree. Probably more comfortable for him to have 4-6 people carry a backboard than ride in an ambulance...


Aaron Z

I do Mountain rescue at a nearby ski area all winter. I've had many broken pelvis incidents, I would never accept time so long over "patient comfort". The golden hour is passing.

 

[Wagtail]

Make & model of the tractor was not mentioned (no, I'm not making a joke). However;

A working Operator In Seat switch would have shut the tractor down immediately once the gear lever shifted.

I hope that he comes through this OK. I also hope that he had medical insurance.

 

[coldsteelva]

If you haven't seen the 'state' of our emergency service workers lately, especially volunteer services, then you may not have noticed that in general, they are all in poor shape and likely could not or would not even consider trying to just carry the man 1200' on a backboard. I have been there and done that before and it can be done. It sounds like a gator would have been better suited to the terrain. For being in Maine I'm kind of surprised, they didn't just have the local SAR team come out with one of there one- or two-wheeled litter carriers that they use for hauling injured folks down mountains and out of the backcountry.

 

[s219]

Too many things can accidentally snag when getting off tractors. Has problems with both the cargo pockets on pants catching, and the bottom of my shorts catching. I don't think the tractor makers put any thought into this other than locating levers close by for a seated operator to reach with hands.

 

[CincyFlyer]

Watch those pant legs guys. I've been there and done that without a serious accident. Sometime ( if not really hot) I band the pant legs to avoid the possible snag. Heck even the hammer loop on bibs or work pants have caught on control handles etc. Sometimes I cut that darn loop off to avoid that as well.

Yep, there are all kinds of things to catch on my tractor, and every one I've been on; usually, only the seat adjuster, with the leg of my shorts (once I learned to never get on from the right side lest I activate the FEL, the joystick for which is the **** in the way). I also do a "double neutral" (because of a scary "learning experience" that perhaps wasn't dissimilar to what happened above) and put both the shuttle and the synchromesh shifters in N before disembarking.

 

[bspeedy]

My younger brother was injured when he stretched his leg down under the tractor to kick a board being used as a ramp out of the way. In doing so, his body pushed the tractor into gear and the tractor's rear wheel ran over his leg and tried to drag him under. Darn lucky he shut it off and Dad was there and able to get him out and to the hospital. He was probably 14 at the time. I felt terribly guilty as I had left the job site early for some reason that day and would have been helping to load the tractor. He had a broken ankle and some sprains and tendon / ligament damage. Wasted a summer in a cast. No permanent damage almost 30 years later. It's the only really serious accident they've had in 50+ years in business.