A Moab man who was repairing a motor home’s brake lines died on Sept. 27, after the rear jacks supporting the vehicle failed and pinned him underneath it.
Ferdinand Toney Lameman, 32, and a 51-year-old Moab man were working on the vehicle at the Moab Chevrolet Buick dealership’s garage on South Main Street.
According to a Moab Police Department report on the incident, the other man said that Lameman asked him to release the air pressure on a tank inside the vehicle. When the man did so, the jacks at the rear of the vehicle failed, causing it to collapse and move forward, he reported.
The man told police that he tried to hit the motor home’s brakes. But he said he couldn’t because there wasn’t enough room between the steering wheel and the engine housing area.
At that point, he rushed out of the vehicle and found Lameman trapped under the front axle area.
An emergency dispatcher was subsequently notified, and a Moab Police Department sergeant was the first person to arrive at the scene. The sergeant immediately called for Emergency Medical Services, and as he and the reporting officer waited for help to arrive, the 51-year-old man tried frantically to help Lameman.
Out of concern for the man’s safety, police asked him to step away from the motor home, and as he did so, arriving Moab Valley Fire Department personnel mobilized to lift the vehicle.
Several minutes later, fire department crews were able to pull Lameman clear of the vehicle. But Emergency Medical Services personnel found no vital signs, and a Moab Police sergeant was then called to the scene to conduct an investigation of Lameman’s death.
Lameman’s remains were taken to the Utah State Office of the Medical Examiner in Salt Lake City for an autopsy.
According to the police report on the incident, the investigation found that evidence at the scene was consistent with the 51-year-old man’s statements.
There were gouges in the asphalt where the rear jack feet had been, along with scrape marks where the jacks dragged across the asphalt. Skid marks were also noticeable where the vehicle’s tires initially touched the ground, according to the report.
Additional information about Lameman was unavailable as of press time this week. Moab Auto Group General Manager Norm Knapp declined to comment, and Moab Police Chief Mike Navarre said it’s unclear at this point if either of the men worked at the dealership.
“I don’t know whether they were employees, or if this (vehicle) belonged to him and he was just working on this,” Navarre said Sept. 29. “I don’t know the answer to that.”
Ferdinand Lameman was repairing vehicle at auto dealership
