Landscaper killed when mower spills

Machine slips 5-6 feet into LR creek

Workers with Land Design landscaping company remove a lawn mower from a creek Friday morning at Stonebridge Apartments in west Little Rock after a co-worker’s accidental death.
Workers with Land Design landscaping company remove a lawn mower from a creek Friday morning at Stonebridge Apartments in west Little Rock after a co-worker’s accidental death.

A landscape worker died Friday morning after he was trapped underneath a riding lawn mower that tipped over and slid into a creek in west Little Rock.

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Little Rock firefighters climb back up an embankment after removing the body of Sammy Craig, a 32-year-old landscaper killed in a lawn mower accident Friday morning while working at Stonebridge at the Ranch Apartments in west Little Rock.

Sammy Craig, 32, of Malvern was killed after the mower tipped over on a steep, grassy embankment and fell into a creek outside an apartment complex, according to police.

Police responded about 9 a.m. Friday at Stonebridge at the Ranch, north of Cantrell Road east of Little Rock Christian Academy. Authorities said the mower fell about 5 to 6 feet before landing on the "rock bottom of the creek."

Three men -- two Stonebridge at the Ranch employees and another landscape worker -- lifted the lawn mower off Craig and pulled him out of the creek, according to a police report. One of the men then attempted to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Craig but was not able to find a pulse.

Police spokesman Lt. Steve McClanahan said the rider was not killed by the mower's blades. It was not clear if Craig drowned or was killed in the fall.

Craig's body was removed from the scene by the Pulaski County coroner's office and transported to the state Crime Laboratory to determine a cause of death, police said.

State Desk on 04/02/2016

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