
Lynnwood police have closed their investigation into the case of a 47-year-old forklift operator from Edmonds who was involved last summer in a fatal accident in the parking lot of the Goodwill store on 198th Street Southwest. The report is now with the Snohomish County prosecutor, who is considering possible second-degree manslaughter charges.
According to the report, shortly after 10 a.m. on August 18, 2014, the employee was carrying a large box of electronics on a forklift in the combined parking, staging and loading area adjacent to the store. Video from Goodwill surveillance cameras shows the forklift striking the victim, “pushing him backward and causing him to fall to the ground,” at which point “the box then fell off the pallet and landed on the victim.”
The victim, identified later as 69-year-old Chuck Lee of Bothell, was transported to Harborview Medical Center, where he died the next evening as a result of “skull and spine fractures…due to blunt force injuries of the head and torso”.
According to the report, just prior to striking Lee, the forklift operator was traveling forward while his view was obstructed by the box, rather than following the accepted safety practice of “traveling in reverse with the load trailing in order to ensure an unobstructed view.” Because of this, investigators suggest that the driver “may have acted with criminal negligence.” The report also states that the employee had not received specific training on forklift operation, and that other Goodwill employees tasked with operating a forklift had likewise not received this training.
According a spokesperson for the Snohomish County Prosecutor, no charges have been filed yet, and the driver is not in custody.
The State Department of Labor and Industries also conducted an investigation, and as a result Goodwill is being cited for not providing adequate training and instruction to forklift operators, and allowing an employee to operate a forklift while the view is obstructed.
— Story and photo by Larry Vogel
How absolutely awful. It’s hard to imagine what benefit prosecuting this man would have though, unless anyone thinks he might run more people over with a forklift.
And why has it taken 6 months for the Lynnwood police to complete an investigation of this? We also know from past fatal accidents in Edmonds that it takes the county prosecutor, because of insufficient staffing, even longer than 6 months to make their decision. Clearly this is unacceptable for everyone.