A Westchester Township man died on Wednesday after his tractor overturned and crushed him as he was mowing high grass on county property along U.S. Highway 20, the Porter County Sheriff’s Police said.

The victim was identified as Thomas Peak, 78.

According to police, at approximately 2:52 p.m. Peak was westbound on the north side of U.S. 20, just west of Kemil Road (C.R. 300E), when a witness observed his tractor mower swerve along the grass line, then fall into a ditch, pinning him beneath.

Coroner Vicki Deppe pronounced Peak dead at the scene of massive crush injuries to the chest. No autopsy has been scheduled, she said.

Lt. Rudy Jimenez of the Chesterton Fire Department, which responded to the scene, told the Chesterton Tribune today that the accident occurred six to eight feet from the roadway and said that the shoulder which Peak was mowing probably had a sloping “fall of a couple of feet.”

There was no indication that he was trying to turn the tractor at the time of the accident, Jimenez said, as his mow line continued straight to the point of the accident.

Lt. Chris Eckert of the PCSP said that the witness established immediately that there was no other vehicle involved in the accident. He did say that the tractor had a bucket attachment in the front which investigators found raised. It’s possible, Eckert ventured, that the bucket had begun to sway or wobble, although it’s also possible that the bucket was actually dislodged when the tractor overturned.

Deppe speculated that Peak may have hit a patch of soft ground. “For whatever reason, the tractor just tipped,” she said.

In any case, Deppe noted, Peak had mowed that stretch along U.S. 20 many times before. “He mowed that spot all the time. Neighbors told me he mowed it because the county didn’t. Neighbors told me they couldn’t see to get out.”

The CFD cleared the scene at 4:19 p.m., after Cloverleaf West Towing dispatched a wrecker to remove the tractor.

Posted 6/12/2008