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KY contractor killed trimming trees after getting tangled in light display

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Joseph Wesley Manire, KY wood chipper killed trimming trees
Joseph Wesley Manire, Kentucky wood chipper killed trimming trees in freak accident.
Joseph Wesley Manire, KY wood chipper killed trimming trees
Joseph Wesley Manire, Kentucky wood chipper killed trimming trees in freak accident.

Joseph Wesley Manire Kentucky wood chipper killed in ‘freak accident’ trimming trees after getting tangled in popular Christmas light display in Owensboro. No foul play suspected. 

A Kentucky contractor was killed in a ‘freak accident’ Monday after becoming tangled in a holiday light display and falling into a wood chipper. 

Joseph ‘Joey’ Wesley Manire, 46, was trimming tress across the street from a popular Christmas light attraction in Owensboro, late Monday afternoon, when tragedy struck.

At some point, the worker became tangled in a holiday light display and fell partway into a wood chipper, sustaining traumatic injuries, according to the Daviess County Sheriff’s Office.

Emergency responders arrived shortly thereafter and pronounced Manire dead at the scene just on 5pm. Authorities are currently probing the tragic incident, but claim that no foul play is suspected at this time, WEVV.com reported.

In light of the grisly accident, the Owensboro Christmas Lights’ organizers posted a Facebook advisory warning visitors to visit another night as well as advising visitors to ‘be cautious and extra aware if you are traveling in our area.’

‘Repeated hazard warnings’ 

‘There has been an accident concerning a landscaping business across the street from our display,’ the group’s reps wrote. ‘Local authorities have our neighborhood blocked off at the moment. We have the lights on to help light the area for the first responders, but please plan to visit the display a different night.’

This isn’t the first time a contractor has been killed by a woodchipper of late. In October, a California tree trimmer perished after falling into one of the bark-mulching devices.

Other similar freak accidents also include a Pennsylvania teen in August being killed after getting dragged into a wood chipper after getting his clothes stuck in the industrial device.

A study in 2018 revealed there had been 113 wood chipper-related worker deaths in the US between 1982 and 2016.

Of that total, 41 people died after being caught in the machine.

‘Workers are killed every year in wood chipper-related incidents despite the repeated hazard warnings,’ the study stated. ‘In-depth, comprehensive, and up-to-date studies are needed to identify causal, risk, and contributing factors and assess the current control measures so that an effective and proactive prevention approach can be developed.’

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