Tyler Anthony Lynch was 26 years old and worked picking up branches from the ground in Apple Valley, Minnesota, when his coworker decided to play with the shadows.
Christopher Boone Crimmins, 34, operated the truck’s hydraulic claw from his seat while Lynch worked below. The afternoon sun on August 20 cast the shadows of both of them onto the street, and Crimmins, the only licensed operator of that equipment, got the idea to move the mechanical arm to simulate the claw’s shadow grabbing his coworker’s head shadow. According to his own statement to police, they were simply killing time.
He failed to realize that the real claw was moving toward Lynch’s head as he continued the joke with his eyes fixed on the ground. He closed it. A witness saw the impact. Officers found Lynch lying there, with a severe head wound and blood pooled around him; he died at the scene. Crimmins now faces a second-degree involuntary manslaughter charge and up to 10 years in prison, held on bail of 40.000 dollars.