SARASOTA HERALD-TRIBUNE May 12, 2006 Worker killed at Manatee dairy farm Javier Luis Mendoza dies at Jerry Dakin Dairy on Saturday after being pinned by a Bobcat. By MICHAEL A. SCARCELLA MYAKKA CITY -- For the second time in less than a year, a man has been crushed to death in an industrial accident at a Manatee dairy farm.
The latest victim, identified as 21-year-old Javier Luis Mendoza, was killed Saturday at Jerry Dakin Dairy in the 30700 block of Betts Road in East Manatee.
Authorities said Mendoza became pinned by a Bobcat front-end loader bucket. He died from chest trauma, according to sheriff's reports.
Mendoza was sitting in the operating seat when he leaned through the opening of the Bobcat to switch loading instruments, authorities said.
He did not lock the safety bar, sheriff's investigators said. Mendoza mistakenly leaned on the pedal, and the bucket pinned him against the machine. A fellow worker found Mendoza trapped and shut off the Bobcat. Mendoza was pronounced dead at the scene.
Jerry Dakin, the farm's owner, could not be reached for comment Thursday.
In October, federal authorities investigated the death of a farmworker at a different dairy owned by another member of the Dakin family.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said that employer, Farren Dakin Dairy, should pay a $4,900 fine for a safety violation that contributed to the death of longtime Manatee County resident Kenneth Vaughn.
Vaughn, 38, was killed in August when a front-end loader he was working on fell and crushed him. He died from blunt trauma at that farm in the 41000 block of State Road 70 in Myakka City.
OSHA officials called the safety violation at Farren Dakin Dairy serious.
Vaughn, according to sheriff's deputies, was using one front-end loader to lift up another to reach that vehicle's undercarriage.
Authorities said Vaughn had used a metal pole to prop up the loader while he worked underneath it.
A Dakin employee who had been with Vaughn ran to get help.
Vaughn was barely alive when authorities arrived at the farm.
Co-workers got another loader to lift the machinery off Vaughn |