Construction worker killed by wood chipper

TAMPA, Fla., July 7 (UPI) -- A Tampa, Fla., construction worker died when he fell into a wood chipper as he tried to clear an obstruction.

Luis Santiago, a 12-year-old boy who witnessed the accident, described the death of Harold Gregory to the Tampa Tribune.

"He yelled, Help me! Help me!' But the other worker couldn't turn the machine off in time," the boy said.

J.D. Callaway, a spokesman for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Department, said that wood chippers are "incredibly dangerous types of equipment." He said that the rare fatalities usually happen when a worker tries to clear something that has gotten stuck without turning the machine off.

Gregory is the fourth person to die from a wood chipper in the Tampa area in recent years.