Combine runs over body during the incident; authorities are investigating cause of death and circumstances surrounding the death
By Jim Beers
CHESTER – The Chester Fire Department received a call Saturday June 21 at 6:29 p.m. The message was that there had been a male run over by a tractor in a field at 3024 State Street in Chester and that the man was still breathing.
The location of the scene was on the east side of Chester in a field across the highway from Union School Road and 300 yards before arriving at the High Point Care Facility (formerly known as Craig Manor).
Chester Police and Med Star Ambulance personnel arrived at the scene within minutes to find the male lying in the field where local farmers had been combining wheat. The wheat was knee-to-waist high where the male was located.
According to police and fire personnel, the wheat was so high that when a Chester Police vehicle drove into the field near the male victim, heat from underneath the car actually caught the field on fire. Chester Fire Department personnel extinguished the fire with little effort.
Officials on the scene reported that a local farmer had been working in the field combining the wheat when the male wandered into the field by the High Point facility to watch the combine doing its work. According to a Chester Fireman, the victim had been a farmer and enjoyed watching the farm machinery at various times throughout the year.
It is only speculated as to what the series of events were that led to the man being run over by the combine, but at some point, he was actually run over by the machinery. Randolph County Coroner, Tracy Vallett, said that she was out of town at the time and had one of her deputies cover the accident, but that an autopsy will be conducted to try and determine if the male was already dead or disabled at the time he was run over by the combine.
Speculation by authorities on scene was that the male was lying on the ground in the high wheat when he encountered the combine. Very possibly he may have already been dead when the combine ran over him.
The driver of the combine was reportedly beside himself after the encounter with the male and stated that it was impossible to see him in the wheat. A thorough investigation will hopefully shed some light on the series of events that led to the death of the elderly male.
The male victim was reportedly a client or resident of the High Point living center and that he frequently enjoyed watching the farmers working in the fields. It is thought that he possibly wandered into the nearby field to get a closer look at the combine.
The extreme heat may have been a contributing factor to why he was lying on the ground in the field due to some sort of medical emergency. More details will be available when the results of the autopsy are made available.
This is the scene at 3024 state street in chester where an elderly man died in a wheat field while watching farmers combine wheat. Jim beers photo
Chester fire and police departments responded to the field located at 3024 state street where an elderly man was found dead saturday evening at 6:30 p.m. Temperatures were in the upper 90’s at the time and local farmers were busy in the field harvesting wheat with a combine. Notice the height of the wheat that was yet to be harvested as evidenced by the first responders standing in the field. Jim beers photo
Chester police, firemen, and med star personnel and equipment can be seen at 3024 state street in chester where an elder man was discovered dead in a wheat field. A thorough investigation is being conducted to determine without a doubt the cause and circumstances surrounding the death. Jim beers photo