News Summary

DAYTON — The Montgomery County coroner's office has identified the man who was killed Thursday morning at a construction work site in the 800 block of West Washington Street as Thomas Morgan, 29, of the 7200 block of Brookville-Salem Road in Clay Twp.

Morgan was working for Homrich Inc., which is based out of Carlton, Mich., Dayton police Sgt. Richard Blommel said.

Dayton paramedics were called to the scene about 9:15 a.m., Fire Lt. Kenneth Coleman said.

The accident occurred when Morgan went to check on a crusher that had jammed, Blommel said. The crusher is used to grind concrete into sand.

The crusher's operator shut the machine off and walked away, when Morgan went to kick a part of the machine, called the tumbler, which rolls the concrete pieces around and shoves them into the area where the grinder is located, Blommel said.

"When he kicked it loose, it flipped (up and hit him)," Blommel said. "The machine was off, but it was still under pressure."

Representatives from the Cincinnati office of the Occupational Safety and Hazard Administration were at the site, which will be the future location for the Dayton Public School District's David H. Ponitz Career Technology Center, Thursday morning.

Family members and co-workers at the scene said Morgan was married with two children and a member of the Operating Engineers Union Local 18.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2414 or kwynn@DaytonDailyNews.com. Staff writer Joanne Huist Smith contributed to this report.