A man has been accused of crushing his coworker’s head with a hydraulic grapple while they were trimming trees and cleaning up branches on Thursday in Apple Valley, Minnesota.
The accused, identified as 34-year-old Christopher Boone Crimmins, was charged with one count of second-degree manslaughter, Fox 9 reported Friday.
An image showed the suspect:
The incident happened on 132nd Street West where responding police officers located a man, identified as 26-year-old Tyler Anthony Lynch, on the ground in a puddle of blood.
Lynch had suffered major head trauma and officials declared him dead at the scene. Both men were employees of a tree-trimming company, and Crimmins said he was operating the grapple that was on the back of a truck while the victim was picking up branches as he stood on the ground.
“The charges say Crimmins said he and the victim were ‘f–king around’ and ‘saw that the sunlight was casting shadows of both the grapple and of the victim on the street,’” the Fox article continued.
“Crimmins then moved the grapple while looking at the shadows to make it appear like the shadow of the grapple was grabbing the shadow of the victim, court documents said,” the report stated.
However, the suspect apparently did not see the grapple moving toward the victim. He closed it and the device crushed Lynch’s head, leaving blood on the grapple.
KSTP said the men were playing “shadow puppets” when the incident occurred, noting Crimmins was the only one on the team licensed to operate the grapple.
“He made his first court appearance Friday afternoon. His next court hearing is scheduled for Sept. 10. He faces up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine,” the outlet said.
According to the Jiangtu website, a hydraulic grapple, which has the appearance of a gaping metal mouth, is used to lift heavy materials.
