23-year-old was partially crushed in mine accident and ‘no one called 911,’ lawsuit says
A 23-year-old contract welder’s death at a coal mine in New Mexico happened because of “a series of safety lapses and a failed emergency response,” his family’s attorneys said.
David Warren was partially crushed by a piece of heavy equipment in August 2022, according to a lawsuit filed Dec. 9 by his family.
When he was hurt, “no one called 911,” the lawsuit said.
Instead, a worker called a life flight company, “avoiding reporting to local authorities,” the lawsuit said. The mine “provided the wrong coordinates to the emergency responders” and “Warren died still waiting for a life flight, more than an hour later,” the suit said.
Tyson E. Logan, one of the family’s attorneys, said in a news release that “the aftermath and disastrous emergency response” aggravate the tragedy caused by the safety lapses.
“The search for the truth for the Warren family will continue. It’s clear to us now, though, that this was a dangerous operation by companies taking shortcuts,” he said.
The lawsuit names mine operator El Segundo Coal Company, its parent company Peabody Energy, and the mine’s general manager and safety operator as defendants. It also names Caterpillar Inc., which acquired the equipment’s manufacturer.
McClatchy News reached out to representatives of Peabody Energy and Caterpillar Inc. about the lawsuit on Dec. 17 and was awaiting responses.
Warren was repairing an earth-moving shovel in the mine the day he was killed, the lawsuit said. A large plastic block that was holding open a door on the shovel shot out, and the 13-ton door “crushed Warren at his waist and pelvis, leaving his legs hanging outside the bucket and his torso and upper body trapped inside,” the family’s attorneys said.
Warren’s fellow workers couldn’t open the door, so a shovel operator hoisted the dipper, using gravity to force it open, according to the lawsuit. “When the dipper door released, Warren fell approximately seven feet to the ground,” the lawsuit said.
The mine “did not have a clear rescue plan or process for calling or coordinating a helicopter rescue in case of emergency,” the lawsuit said. And, “mine policy and procedure for emergency response was disregarded on the night of (Warren’s injury), causing delay in the emergency response and contributing to Warren’s death,” according to the lawsuit.
The suit said Warren’s death “was not an isolated incident,” calling the mine near the city of Grants “more dangerous than similar mines” when looking at the non-fatal days lost incident rate from 2021.
The lawsuit also faults the shovel’s design, the method of keeping the door open with a plastic block and lack of training and written procedure for contributing to Warren’s death, according to the document.
An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration concluded that the accident happened because the shovel door wasn’t adequately blocked and workers weren’t properly trained on how to block it.
The equipment later was replaced with a different model, the blocking method was updated, written procedures were put in place and training was conducted, according to the investigation report.
Warren’s father, who’s also named David, told KOAT that more change is still needed.
“We want someone to accept the responsibility of what happened and the changes we want is this should never happen again. Changes are needed in all of the construction sites as far as safety and emergency procedures,” the father said.
Grants is about an 80-mile drive west from Albuquerque.
This story was originally published December 18, 2024 at 8:06 AM with the headline "23-year-old was partially crushed in mine accident and ‘no one called 911,’ lawsuit says."
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