A forklift operator at the Chewy distribution facility in Ocala was pronounced dead at Ocala Regional Medical Center on Sunday afternoon after his co-workers found him unresponsive and pinned between his equipment and a shelf beam.
Officials believe that 49-year-old Robert A. Pete, of Ocala, may have suffered a medical condition before the accident, possibly a heart attack. But that won’t be officially determined until the medical examiner completes an investigation into the incident, officials said Monday.
Crews from Ocala Fire Rescue and officers from the Ocala Police Department responded to multiple 911 calls for help at the Chewy warehouse, located at 3380 NW 35th Avenue Rd. Callers reported that Pete was pinned to the wall by a forklift near the front entrance of the building, was bleeding from the mouth and wasn’t breathing, an Ocala Fire Rescue report states.
Before the incident, Pete was operating a forklift where the driver stands and faces toward the forks and the load. The first Ocala police officer to arrive on scene reported seeing a pallet of cardboard boxes stacked about four feet high on the forks, a police report states.
One of Pete’s co-workers told the officer that a few of the Chewy team members at the online pet supply retailer’s 600,000-square-foot warehouse were getting ready take a break when they noticed Pete unresponsive on his forklift. The man said he heard his co-workers screaming for help and they ran to help Pete.
The co-worker said he tried to awaken Pete to no avail. He said he used Pete’s identification card to activate the forklift and move so it so they could free him of being pinned, the report says.
The Chewy employees then laid Pete on the floor and started CPR. Another employee arrived with a one-way valve mask and took over CPR until units from Ocala Fire Rescue arrived, the police report says.
A co-worker said he yelled for someone to call 911 as they started to free Pete from the forklift.
The head of safety for the Chewy facility, Joshua Rose, told the officer that the kind of forklift Pete was operating automatically shuts down upon impact with any object and can only be reactivated by an employee ID card. Rose told the officer that Pete activated his forklift at 12:11 p.m. and it was reactivated at 12:36 p.m., the police report says.
An OSHA investigator also completed an investigation Sunday afternoon. An Ocala police detective also arrived on scene to help conduct interviews. And police determined that no foul play was suspected and they did not see any sign of physical trauma to Pete’s body, the report says.
Meanwhile, Pete’s Facebook page shows that he was very spiritual. His cover photo is a meme that was posted Sept. 9 and states: “Today I declare the most high God is the author of my life. He is editing every chapter of my life each moment of today. I believe he is preparing the future editions of his bestseller and this is me.” And one person who posted a message to Pete referring to him as “Deacon Pete.”
Under details about himself on the Facebook page, Pete also posted a saying about being a man that loves his God with all his heart and loves his wife, who is “to be treated like the Queen she is.” He posted a favorite personal quote that referred to God as “awesome.” And one of his other memes read: “Stop worrying about things you can’t change & put them in God’s hands. He will fix it. If you agree type amen.”
Pete, who listed his occupation on Facebook as a forklift operator and fulfillment specialist, married Jasmine Brown on Jan. 22, 2016. She posted this message on her Facebook page, along with a photo of her standing beside a smiling Pete: “RIP to my wonderful husband. I will always love you and I will never forget you. Thanks for always being there for me and for all you’ve done for me. I know you’ll always be watching over me. Love you forever.”
Several friends and co-workers offered their condolences to Brown. Those included:
- Trimeka Miller: “Your husband was definitely a man of God and will forever be missed. He was so encouraging. I will never forget such a great man.”
- Meresa Boutwell: “I worked with him and he was an amazing man. Sending you and your family lots of love.”
- Crystal Addy: “Robert was a great guy and I am glad I got the pleasure of knowing and working with him!! He is going to be missed in more than 1 way by many!!
- Brittany Paschall: “Robert was a great man. I worked with him and if I wasn’t smiling, he would stop and make sure I smiled. May God be with y’all. I was blessed to know him.”
- Patty Orr Booth: “I worked with Bob and just loved him to pieces. Whenever I would have a bad day or something was bothering me, Bob would see me upset and pray for me. He loved his family so much! He will be missed.”
- Blackburn Cherokee: “He loves you very much! He was always telling people to be positive at work and telling us to smile. His topic of choice at work was how amazing of a wife he had and how blessed he was to have you! I pray that God looks over you and your family during this time.”
Pete, who graduated from Marianna High School in 1990, was born and raised in Ocala. He would have turned 50 this coming Sunday and on his Facebook page asked that those wishing to send him birthday wishes or gifts instead direct those to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.
Chewy opened its $40 million distribution center in the Ocala-Marion County Commerce Park earlier this year. The company released a statement about the incident late Monday afternoon: “We are deeply saddened by the recent loss of our team member, Robert Pete. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family during this time. We are currently conducting a full investigation and working closely with local authorities and our on-site teams to determine the cause and nature of the incident.”