Man Loading Fruit Is Crushed to Death by Forklift

A field hand was crushed to death Monday afternoon by a forklift while loading crates of fruit, authorities said.

The man, whose name has not been released, was rushed to St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard, where he was pronounced dead.

John Wilson, operations supervisor for the American Medical Response ambulance company, said an ambulance crew was driving west on California 118 near Vineyard Avenue on the way to Ventura about 3:30 p.m. when a man standing at the roadside flagged down the paramedics.

Wilson said the paramedics found a man in the fields nearby lying on a dirt trail and holding his stomach.

“He was rolling around and obviously in extreme pain,” Wilson said.

Co-workers said the man had been loading crates when a forklift backed over him.

Authorities did not know Monday night which company the victim worked for.

Paramedics had the man stabilized and in the ambulance within a matter of minutes. He died shortly after arriving at the hospital, Wilson said.