73-year-old found ‘face down’ under lawnmower in his South Carolina yard, coroner says
A 73-year-old found “face down” under his lawnmower has died, South Carolina officials said. The man was doing yard work when the mower flipped, crushing him to death on Saturday, July 16, according to the Oconee County Coroner’s Office. At about 11:45 a.m., a passerby found the man beneath the mower. First responders couldn’t resuscitate him and he was pronounced dead outside his home, officials said.
He was identified in a news release as Webster Bruce.
Officials said the incident likely happened at about 10 or 11 a.m. along North John Street in Walhalla, roughly 45 miles west of Greenville. At the time, Bruce was “going down a slight grade” while using a zero-turn lawnmower, which Popular Mechanics describes as a riding mower that uses levers to help it rotate. “The rollover protection device was not being utilized at the time of his injury,” the coroner’s office wrote in its release. “His death has been classified accidental due to crushing injury.”