A Florida man was killed after his coworker ran him over with a bulldozer. Police say it was an accident, but the family of Aaron Henderson, a 40-year-old father of two, wants the man behind the controls of the bulldozer arrested and charged.
“Aaron still had a whole lot of life, he didn’t deserve to die out there with all that trash, man,” Leonard Henderson said of his younger brother Aaron.
On March 4, Aaron Henderson died after being run over and crushed by a bulldozer while inside a port-a-potty on the job. Aaron Henderson was working as a spotter tasked with directing dump trucks coming in and out of the North Central Landfill in Winter Haven, Florida.
Henderson had only been working on the job for a few weeks, according to his older brother Leonard.
According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, Henderson was wrapping up his shift around 5 in the afternoon. Henderson went to use the bathroom in a port-a-potty on the landfill site, and that’s when John Johnson, 56, was driving a bulldozer to park it for the night.
As Johnson was driving the bulldozer to the designated parking area, he ran over the port-a-potty where Henderson was inside.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office told Atlanta Black Star, “OSHA was contacted immediately,” following the incident and “it does appear to be a tragic, industrial accident.”
“While he was using the bathroom in a port-a-potty after his shift, a bulldozer driven by a man by the name of Johnny Johnson, ran him over, killing him instantly,” said Black Lives Matter Restoration Polk Co-founder, Carl Soto.
Leonard Henderson disagrees with the sheriff’s office assertion. “It wasn’t an accident,” Henderson said.
Henderson says his brother told him he and Johnson had been having issues on the job prior to his brother’s death. “How the same guy you get in an argument with accidentally kill you?” Leonard asked.
The Henderson family is also upset the Polk County Sheriff’s Office was quick to rule Aaron Henderson’s death an accident rather than conducting a criminal investigation.
“It ain’t just started, him and this guy, so that’s why I’m trying to understand why the police, the investigation, why y’all ain’t following up on that,” Leonard Henderson said.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd told local station WFLA, “There was no evidence of an ongoing conflict at this stage of the investigation.”
Carl Soto and the Polk County chapter of Black Lives Matter has been advocating for the Henderson family. He says the company contracted to operate the landfill, CertiTemp, also bears some responsibility.
“He [Johnson] chose to maneuver this bulldozer alone without a spotter, at the end of the shift, and, unfortunately, his choice was negligent, because he deviated from OSHA guidelines and regulations and his choice resulted in the death of Mr. Henderson,” Soto said.
According to OSHA’s Occupational and Safety Standards 1910.178(n)(6), “the driver shall be required to look in the direction of and keep clear view of the path of travel.”
Soto says with the bulldozer blade elevated three to four feet off the ground as reported by the Sheriff’s Office, Johnson’s view was likely obstructed, violating OSHA’s safety policies without a spotter guiding Johnson while he was driving the bulldozer to help him see where he was going.
“The bulldozer operator must have a spotter to guide him or her from point A to point B successfully and safely because the blade is obstructing the bulldozer driver’s peripheral view,” Soto said.
Atlanta Black Star reached out to CertiTemp to get answers about Henderson’s death on their worksite, to learn Johnson’s employment status and to learn what their safety protocols are. The company said they have “no comment” at this time.
Meanwhile, the Henderson family is trying to cope with the reality their loved one is no longer with them.
“Now the family is grieving and wanting answers,” Soto said.
“To just get crushed, it’s kind of hard, you know,” Leonard Henderson said of the tragic death of his brother.
A spokeswoman from the Polk County State Attorney office told Atlanta Black Star, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office is still investigating Henderson’s death.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office would not address whether Johnson underwent drug testing immediately following the incident. The sheriff’s office would say it is waiting on test results related to Henderson’s autopsy before releasing its death investigation report, results that are expected to include a toxicology report for Henderson.
The Henderson family has retained the Benjamin Crump law firm to represent its interests in this case.
