Man dies in tractor crash on upstate New York farm

[msb1766]

Man dies in tractor crash on upstate New York farm
Posted: Oct 07, 2014 9:14 AM EDT
Updated: Oct 07, 2014 9:14 AM EDT
CHAZY, N.Y. (AP) - State police say a 36-year-old man has died after the farm vehicle he was driving crashed and overturned in a river near the Canadian border in northern New York.

Troopers say Philip Fortsch III of Champlain was operating a manure spreader around 5 p.m. Monday on the Rovers Farms in the Clinton County town of Chazy, just north of Plattsburgh.

Police say the vehicle ran off the edge of the driveway, causing the tractor to overturn and roll down an embankment into the Little Chazy River. The vehicle came to rest upside down with the cab submerged in about four feet of water.

Emergency crews removed Fortsch from the vehicle and took him to the hospital in Plattsburgh, where he was pronounced about an hour after the accident.

The cause of the accident is still under investigation.

 

[Threepoint]

Awful news. Reminds us once again that in a moment everything can change.

 

[sdef]

Must have been quite an embankment for a cabbed tractor, I assume that also had ROPS, to roll down the embankment.

 

[Soundguy]

tell me about it..

 

[aginn]

Sorry to hear about this. It can happen to any of us with just a little bit of distraction. It is easy to get complacent on even gentle side-grades. Find a little bump and things get tight in a hurry. I hope this accident at least makes someone else just a little more careful. Maybe me.
Thoughts and prayers to his family.

 

[DarkBlack]

I wonder if he couldn't get unbuckled, and drowned?

 

[Soundguy]

Or the cab dior was pinned or something..

 

[rd_macgregor]

After a roll downhill, it would be pretty easy to end up unconscious, too...you'd get thrown from side to side pretty violently and could suffer head trauma before ending up in the river. I've managed to bonk my head on the side glass a time or two just bouncing in a field or on a rough trail.

 

[Soundguy]

After a roll downhill, it would be pretty easy to end up unconscious, too...you'd get thrown from side to side pretty violently and could suffer head trauma before ending up in the river. I've managed to bonk my head on the side glass a time or two just bouncing in a field or on a rough trail.

a correct cab setup with FOPS and seatbelt should keep heat off the side glass though you could certaintly go forward and bonk your head ont he steering wheel.

 

[Whatswrong]

This is a sad story ,I wonder how many times this scenario is repeated in some form every year. Locally two boys died when they lost control going down a hill with a round baler behind went off the road and were killed .
I will sound like a jerk but most things of this nature are preventable , I can't ever recall having an incident of significance that wasn't invited by some short cut , lack of attention or highballing.