Accident...or?

[Buford57]

All the statements about the possibility of flipping a tractor are consistent with my experience. Towed equipment disconnected doesn't necessarily mean anything. (The equipment could have been disconnected so he could ride the tractor home and resume work in the same spot.)

I also am having a hard time visualizing how someone could flip a tractor on someone else without leaving more than footprints.

If there are any details hiding in the file I suspect that it is that someone else came to the scene first and left without rendering aid, if that was even possible. The sheriff identified, maybe interviewed that person and sees no purpose in revealing their identity 50 years later, especially in today's climate where every tragedy seems to require that some other individual is "held accountable" either criminally, civilly or by public ridicule.

 

[Buford57]

Worked with heavy machinery most of my adult live. Tractor roll overs have killed many, many farmers over the decades. It takes a mere second or two before something goes from normal to fatal with machinery. I know and have worked with 4 individuals that were killed by their machinery. It has been a while since I checked the following stats so DON''T take for fact, but IIRC, oil field workers are 10 times more likely to be killed and 22 times more likely to be permanently disabled on job than police officers.

Being retired from one of those occupations and having a brother retired from the other, I'd say you're pretty close.

 

[tops]

I had a cousin killed in a tractor rollover. He was mowing and the field had been mowed a thousand times before without incident. Suddenly there was a soft spot or hole.

Wifes uncle did the same thing with a wide front end 801 Series Ford that he had been using for 20 years.
I decided years ago that when working around machinery accidents will happen. The only question is when and how bad will it be. Larry

 

[Grayfox]

Having spent a sizable part of my life fixing tractors and such equipment, there is far too little info to go on. Need to know make ,model, size and type of tractor. Type of front end and suspension. Was the ground hard and solid or soft with holes? What was the implement? Was it unhooked on purpose or torn loose? Etc and so on. There are a ton of different details that can contribute to such an accident.
There are a 1001 ways to accidentally flip a tractor. But, honestly, it would be damned hard to do it on purpose without serious injury to yourself. And damned near impossible to commit murder that way. That whole concept is so far out in left field that you can't even see it from here.

 

[steelslaver]

What several people have referenced to and most people don't understand is that if you get a tractor in a way low gear and pop the clutch under power instead of the third member turning axles and wheels, the tractor itself turns on the axles and flips over backwards. They have huge amounts of torque.

 

[LVSteve]

Because my father went to his grave without a definitive answer.
Based on the comments and you folks that know about tractors and that they can flip over adds to whether I'll press on and get a court order to release the file.


My father made multiple trips to Kentucky but the county Sherriff would not release the file without a court order and basically said it was an accident, case closed. My father tried talking to neighbors in his area and pretty much got, "I don't know," with the exception that my brother was a good man and sad that he left behind a young wife and three little ones.


There was one comment by a local that there were issues and I suppose that was what stuck in his craw.
Thanks everyone for your comments...I do appreciate it.

Having previously been part of a family whose older uncle was the "dodgy sheriff" of a county in Iowa, I'll take a stab at how this works.

Your brother has an accident with his tractor and is killed. Some time later a car pulls into a field with a couple on board looking for a spot for some "liaison". The couple spot the overturned tractor in the field and drive up to see what's going on. They find your brother, and giving them the benefit of the doubt, I'll say they find he has passed.

Trouble is this "couple" shouldn't be. They are either married to other people, or underage, or any number of other circumstances that would outrage the locals and frighten the horses in rural Kentucky. They go to the sheriff, on the strict understanding that their names are kept out of any public discussion. However, the sheriff is in a bit of a bind because he really has to document what he knows.

So, the sheriff goes to the local judge, explains that a full reveal is just going to create unnecessary grief locally. He asks that the judge agree that the report can only be released by a local judge's order...which of course will never happen.

There you have it. Good luck getting the court order. Before possibly wasting your money, I'd suggest checking on all the family names of the local judges and law enforcement and see how many align from 1971 to today.

 

[MDF4]

Thank you everyone I appreciate your feedback.
Taking this afternoon to think about your comments it has finally dawned on me...what's the real reason in me pursuing this any further with the authorities in Kentucky? I've come to the conclusion to let it rest. According to my mother, he just about drove himself crazy for about a year after my brother died, and me, being very much like my father, does not want to go down that road. My brother would not want me to subject the family to any further grief. I know where is at and someday we will meet again.


Thanks everyone, I really appreciate you taking the time.

 

[Bekeart]

Just like a WHEELIE on my Honda ...

What several people have referenced to and most people don't understand is that if you get a tractor in a way low gear and pop the clutch under power instead of the third member turning axles and wheels, the tractor itself turns on the axles and flips over backwards. They have huge amounts of torque.

Just like a WHEELIE on my Honda ...

Bekeart

 

[Muss Muggins]

I've got five bucks and a draft beer that says the records have been destroyed. . .

https://www.klc.org/UserFiles/LocalGovernmentGeneralRecordsRetentionSchedule.pdf

Thank you everyone I appreciate your feedback.
Taking this afternoon to think about your comments it has finally dawned on me...what's the real reason in me pursuing this any further with the authorities in Kentucky? I've come to the conclusion to let it rest. According to my mother, he just about drove himself crazy for about a year after my brother died, and me, being very much like my father, does not want to go down that road. My brother would not want me to subject the family to any further grief. I know where is at and someday we will meet again.


Thanks everyone, I really appreciate you taking the time.

 

[steelslaver]

Just like a WHEELIE on my Honda ...

Bekeart

Exactly only tractor tires have a huge amount of mass, compounded by the fact that tractor wheels are heavy on purpose the tires are generally filled with chloride for added traction weight.

 

[Pisgah]

I can demonstrate to you in two minutes how it can happen -- but I make it a practice to stay off of tractors these days, and was darned near killed enough times when I was frequently on one, thank you very much. Yessir, many weird and fatal things can occur. A tractor is absolutely unlike any other motorized conveyance out there. Working alone on a tractor is a necessity at times, but a very dangerous one...

 

[Golddollar]

Worked with heavy machinery most of my adult live. Tractor roll overs have killed many, many farmers over the decades. It takes a mere second or two before something goes from normal to fatal with machinery.

And it's not just tractors. Back in my misspent youth I worked for the township road department. I became the backup roller operator. With those big drums you would think a road roller would be incredibly stable, but it isn't. Those things are surprisingly top heavy and easy to flip if you make too sudden a move with it. The first day I ran the roller I could feel the top heaviness, and I could feel the roller leaning when I got close to the edge of the road. It was scary, but after a couple days I got used to operating the roller. But I always made sure to never make any quick moves.

 

[Alk8944]

I just did a "Google" search on tractor overturn accidents. The result I found was that approximately 50% of all farm fatalities are a result of tractor overturns, with an annual average of 130 fatalities due to this cause.

Statistically the odds are overwhelming that it was a normal and all too common industrial accident as determined by the original investigating agency.

Like others, I cannot envision how a second party could cause a tractor to overturn on its operator as a method of causing a homicidal fatality!

 

[Rpg]

Now days, this accident would have been investigated more aggressively: it had the potential to be a pretty significant product liability case.

I've had similar cases. They require significant expenditures on engineers.

 

[sigp220.45]

And I bet the file consists of a one page police report. I doubt there was even an autopsy in the absence of any signs of foul play. Straight up accident, on to the next case.

 

[Grayfox]

I would be very interested in reading the official police report. Even though there's little doubt that this was just an unfortunate accident, I'd like to have all the known facts myself.

 

[SMSgt]

I was bush hogging my F-in-L's acreage once. Somehow I snagged a stump hidden in deep grass. The front of that tractor, a Ford model, was 5-6 feet in the air in a heartbeat and climbing. Only a quick stomp on the clutch pedal prevented that tractor from flipping over on me.

 

[tomhenry]

Saved for later.

 

[TX-Dennis]

A good friend in high school (with whom I happened to share a surname) died in a tractor flip over at the age of 16. Those types of accidents are far too common.

I remember a few days later an acquaintance at school was looking at me with his mouth wide open and a frightened look on his face. I asked him what was wrong, and he asked me if I was a ghost because I was supposed to be dead. I told him it was a different Turner.

 

[Countrycuz]

Tractors with a front end loader can be another pitfall. Proper rear weight is needed to counter balance the front. Ask me how I know