A Franklin County man died Monday evening from injuries sustained when a car fell on him while he was working on it, officials said.
Coroner Elize Malone said Donald “Buzz” Wolfe, 52, Franklin 89, Russellville, was killed in the accident.
Rodney Alexander, fire chief of the East Franklin Volunteer Fire Department, said someone found him pinned under the car and called authorities.
Franklin County 911 received the emergency call around 7 p.m.
“When we got there, the person who had found him was trying to jack up the car and get it off of the body,” Alexander said. “I could tell it was too late, so we lifted the car up and pulled the body out from under the car.”
He said it is unknown how long Wolfe was underneath the car.
“The man who found him had just come by to visit,” Alexander said.
Malone pronounced Wolfe dead at the scene. “(The car) just crushed him,” Malone said.
Emergency personnel at the scene said the front of the car was jacked up and both front tires were off.
Officials said one side of the car was jacked up and had material underneath to prevent it from falling.
“On the other side, it looked like he was using a scissor-jack to jack up the car but didn’t have anything else underneath the vehicle to hold the car up,” Alexander said. “To me, it looked like that jack just slipped and when it did, the car slipped off the jack and fell on him, pinning him underneath."
Eric Creekmore, an automotive service technology instructor at Northwest-Shoals Community College, said safety is one of the first things he talks to his students about.
“You never leave (a vehicle) on a jack if you are going to be underneath working on it,” Creekmore said.
He said when he was younger, he had a good friend get killed when a car fell on him while he was working on it.
“Use a jack stand, they are very inexpensive and they can save your life. It will be the best money you can spend,” Creekmore said. “Not leaving a car on a jack is one thing I try to preach to the students. There's not much you can do once the jack slips.”
Malone said apparently there wasn’t a lot Wolfe could do once the car slipped off the jack.
“It pinned him, crushing him,” Malone said. “It’s sad that this happened.”
This story, by Tom Smith, originally appeared in timesdaily.com
