Rohnert Park construction worker dies in forklift accident

A 19-year-old construction worker died Wednesday morning after a coworker accidentally ran him over with a forklift at a Rohnert Park construction site, the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety said.

The man’s death has prompted an investigation by the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health Administration, better known as Cal/OSHA, which responded along with police and ambulance workers, authorities said.

Emergency responders were dispatched just before 10 a.m. to an apartment complex under construction on Carlson Avenue, near Costco, a Department of Public Safety news release said. Once there, they found a man was lying unconscious on the ground and not breathing. He was being tended by coworkers, authorities said.

Police determined the 19-year-old man was helping a construction worker who was operating a forklift carrying a load of roof trusses when he was fatally injured.

“The operator lost sight of his backer, and inadvertently backed over him,” the news release said. “Once the operator of the forklift realized what had happened, he immediately moved the lift and began to render aid to the victim.”

The man and the coworker who operated the forklift were not identified Wednesday pending an ongoing investigation, the news release said.

You can reach Staff Writer Nashelly Chavez at 707-521-5203 or nashelly.chavez@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @nashellytweets.