January 9, 2010, 06:00:00AM. By Charles Benson

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Battle Creek, MI: A production operator working for Hi-Lex in Battle Creek was the victim of a tragic industrial accident this past week.

Details of the event are still sketchy, but the local police believe that 52-year-old John Barlow, a 25-year veteran of Hi-Lex, was operating a stand-up forklift at the Fort Custer Industrial Park when several plastic bins toppled off a high shelf.

Barlow attempted to avoid the items and wounded up trapped beneath the still moving machine, which dragged him several feet, eventually crushing him beneath a pile of falling debris and the forklift itself.

Company officials remain skeptical about the event, refuting police claims that Barlow was dragged by the forklift.

"We don't know how it happened," Mitch Freeman, the HR manager at Hi-Lex, tells the Battle Creek Enquirer. "I know he wasn't dragged. We are still trying to figure out what happened. We don't know if he tried to get off and tripped and fell. We don't know if he fell or hit his head."

The company is currently working with officials from the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration to deduce the cause of the accident.

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