More released on Johnson Press incident

The Livingston County Coroner’s Office has released additional information on a workplace death this week at Johnson Press of America in Pontiac.

Timothy Legner was pronounced dead at St. James Medical Center in the early morning hours of Sept. 3 and was reportedly working as an assistant press operator on the night shift when the incident happened.

“Legner was found trapped between a Hyster and an industrial size roll of printing paper that weighed 3,300 pounds,” said a statement from the coroner. “The roll clamp that is attached to the front of the Hyster (forklift) trapped Legner up against the roll of paper.”

According to the coroner, Legner was found by another employee shortly after it happened.

“Legner had been operating the Hyster carrying the roll of paper to the roll carriage to be loaded in the printing press. The incident is being classified as a compression type death,” the statement also read.

Details of how the incident occurred are still under investigation by the Pontiac Police, Livingston County Coroner and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Peoria area office.