Personal Injury Law

Worker Dies after Falling into Dough Mixer at Brooklyn Tortilla Factory

By Paul Napoli

January 24, 2011

New York City police and the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) are investigating the death of a young worker at a tortilla factory in Brooklyn who fell into a commercial mixer.

A 911 call about 2:30am this morning reported that an employee of Tortilleria Chinantla at 975 Grand Street in Williamsburg had a heart attack. However, when emergency services rushed to the scene they found that the worker had actually died from falling into a machine mixing tortilla dough, reports The New York Times.

The New York Daily News reports that a video camera caught the incident on tape. The employee, identified as Juan Baten, 22, got one of his arms caught in the revolving mixer blades and it pulled him into the huge mixing bowl, where the mixer crushed him to death. Police told the news source that the video showed that Baten repeatedly stuck his arm into the waist high mixer to press the dough.

Baten, an immigrant from Guatemala, leaves behind his young wife, Rosario Ramirez, and daughter Daisy, 7 months old.

Full post as published by New York City Personal Injury Lawyer on January 24, 2011 (boomark / email).