Farm and Garden Machinery and Equipment Merchant Wholesalers

NarrativeAt approximately 12:15 pm, on November 15, 2018, a sales employee was preparing to load a pre-owned John Deere tractor, Model 6420, for delivery to a customer. The shifting linkage was inoperable and disconnected due to a mechanical issue. While the tractor was running, the employee went beneath the tractor to manually shift it into reverse. The controls on the top side of the tractor were set at B1 allowing the tractor to move once shifted into reverse from the underside. Moving the linkage into reverse with the top controls set at B1 put the tractor into a slow backwards direction. The employee was lying under the tractor when it started moving. The employee was run over by the left front tire and became caught under the loader bucket. The tractor dragged the employee until it came to a rest against a neighboring building. The running tractor and employee were found by a coworker and lifesaving attempts were made. The employee died as a result of the crushing injuries.