Toledo worker is crushed in Mich. quarry

12/10/2002

OTTAWA LAKE, Mich. - A Stoneco, Inc., employee was crushed to death yesterday while working at the company's Ottawa Lake quarry, Monroe County sheriff's deputies said.

Raymond Bermejo, 42, of Toledo was pronounced dead at Flower Hospital shortly after the accident occurred at 10:42 a.m., deputies said.

Deputies said Mr. Bermejo, a truck driver and mechanic for the firm, was working at the bottom of the quarry on Sterns Road, using a cutting torch to remove bolts from a section of catwalk attached to a conveyor belt.

After cutting loose a series of bolts, he was fatally injured when the catwalk section fell on him. Other workers freed him and he was taken to Flower Hospital.