Editor’s note: The following article by Thomas Geyer is reprinted in part from the Quad-City Times of Friday, February 7, 2014.
A Carroll County, IL, jury has awarded $16 million to the families of two teens killed in a grain bin accident shortly before 10:00 a.m. [on July 28,] 2010.
Wyatt Whitebread, 14, and Alex Pacas, 19, died of “traumatic asphyxiation, due to being engulfed in corn,” officials said, while working at a Consolidated Grain and Barge bin operated by Haasback LLC in Mount Carroll. Another worker in the bin, Will Piper, then 20, was injured.
…Attorneys…announced Thursday[, February 6,] that the jury deliberated about eight hours after a 2.5-week trial before granting $8 million each to the families of Whitebread and Pacas….The jury awarded Piper…$875,000.
During the investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, it was determined there were no required safety harnesses or ropes in use.
Four people were working in the grain elevator when the incident occurred….Whitebread and Pacas were standing on the grain in the bin, pushing the grain down to go to a conveyer.
Whitebread began sinking in the corn, and Pacas and Piper went to help him. Whitebread and Pacas suffocated in the corn. Piper was engulfed to his neck but was rescued after spending about six hours in the bin. A 15-year-old worker who was in the bin got out and called for help.