December 22 – The family of a 23-year-old man killed in 2022 after being crushed by a 13-ton steel door has filed a lawsuit alleging negligence by the mining company that owned the equipment.
David Warren, a contract welder, was trapped in the waist while making repairs on a huge earth-moving shovel at the El Segundo coal mine near Grants, the lawsuit said.
Warren was not killed immediately and suffered painful injuries when a plastic block gave way and the giant door crushed him, the suit claims.
“Warren screamed in pain as the door pinned him in half,” the suit said. Warren’s ‘legs were hanging outside the steel door, but his torso and upper body were trapped in the closed bucket.’ When workers were able to reopen the door, Warren fell more than seven feet to the ground, the report said.
The wrongful death lawsuit, filed Dec. 9 in the 1st Judicial District Court, seeks unspecified damages from defendants Peabody Energy, a multinational mining giant, and its subsidiary El Segundo Coal Co. LLC.
A spokeswoman for Peabody Energy did not immediately respond to phone and email messages seeking comment on the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges the companies were negligent for failing to develop proper safety procedures for repairing a massive power shovel used at the mine.
It is also alleged that the companies were negligent in their response to the damage, causing unnecessary delays in the evacuation of Warren. Mine officials also failed to call 911 to report the injury, the report said.
“I handle a lot of sad cases,” said the family’s attorney, Tyson Logan of Wyoming. “This one is particularly difficult.”
Warren’s parents and sisters sought legal representation seeking answers about Warren’s death.
“We know this should not have happened,” Warren’s family said in a written statement. “It’s not right. It has been devastating for our family. We want more answers and justice – and we want to help other families avoid what we are going through.”
Warren and two colleagues went to the El Segundo mine in the high country north of Grants on August 22, 2022, to repair the latch on a giant door on an electric shovel with a payload capacity of 56 cubic meters.
Peabody Energy had developed a system to hold the bucket door open using what the suit described as “a single large plastic block, such as a square door stop.”
Warren was standing at the edge of the bucket “when the plastic block suddenly popped out with a crash,” it said. “The door slammed shut and Warren was crushed near the waist.”
The lawsuit also alleges that the mine had no clear rescue plan for coordinating a helicopter rescue after Warren’s injury at 1:57 a.m. on August 23, 2022.
“All we know is that no one called 911,” Logan said. Instead, mine officials called a private air ambulance company but provided inaccurate coordinates, making it difficult for the helicopter medical crew to find the correct location, he said. The flight crew contacted 911 directly for directions to the mine.
“The 911 operator actively investigated, called local authorities and worked to coordinate and determine an appropriate response to the El Segundo mine,” the complaint said.
When the helicopter arrived at 3:20 a.m., more than two hours after the injury, “it was too late,” the suit said. “Warren was pronounced dead at 3:23 a.m.”
