Toledo-area man, 18, killed in job accident

7/17/2004

PORTAGE, Mich. - A Toledo-area high school senior died Thursday after being hit by a ceiling beam while working at a central Michigan construction site, authorities said.

Ryan Alan Tack, 18, of Monclova Township was pronounced dead at Bronson Methodist Hospital, Kalamazoo, Mich., about an hour after the mishap.

Mr. Tack - a senior at Anthony Wayne High School who worked for the Kent Corp. - was hurt while trying to move a roof truss, a five-foot steel beam used to support the ceilings of larger buildings, at a Wal-Mart construction site in Portage, about seven miles south of Kalamazoo, authorities said. The Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating.