Tractor Mechanic Dies of Head Injuries

WESTLAKE — A 44-year-old Ventura man died Friday, a day after a tractor engine fell on his head at a construction site.

Samuel Brewer, a mechanic with Agoura-based Ebensteiner Inc., was pronounced dead at 9:50 a.m. Friday in the Los Robles Regional Medical Center intensive care unit, said Kris Carraway-Bowman, a hospital spokeswoman.

“His family was at his side,” Carraway-Bowman said. “They’ve been at his side since the moment he got here.”

Brewer was working under a D-10 Caterpillar tractor at a Westlake housing development site near Bridgegate Street and Thornhill Avenue about 12:15 p.m. Thursday when he was struck by the unit’s engine, officials said.

The engine was attached to a crane attempting to remove it from the tractor when it got stuck, said Dean Fryer, a spokesman for the California Division of the Occupational Safety and Health, which investigates industrial accidents. Brewer went under the tractor to see what was the matter and the engine apparently dropped from a height of a foot and struck him in the head, Fryer said.

Brewer was airlifted to the hospital at 1 p.m. and never regained consciousness, Carraway-Bowman said.

Ebensteiner Inc. officials did not return phone calls. The Cal/OSHA investigation could take as long as six months to complete, Fryer said.