Mower death leads to manslaughter probe

Police in Sweden are investigating the death of a man who was run over by a lawn mower last year.

The 58-year-old was cutting the grass at the Pitea Golf Club, central Sweden, in June 2010 when he fell off the machine, which subsequently doubled back over his body.

Police investigating the scene first believed that the man, who suffered from diabetes, had died from a sudden illness. The authority which prosecutes environmental work issues has, however, ordered a manslaughter inquiry after it confirmed that the man had died of suffocation under the mower’s weight.

Safety features on the machine should have stopped it automatically when the rider fell off, and investigations are under way to determine why this did not happen.

“The mower drove in a circle 70-80 metres wide and returned to exactly where he was lying. It was the worst luck, really,” said one of the 58-year-old’s relatives to local paper Norrlandska Socialdemokraten (NSD). “If you fall off it is supposed to stop, but obviously there was a glitch in the system and that’s why it continued on its way,” added the relative.

The golf club, however, insists that they have not been informed of any further investigation. “We have not been told about this. We have not been questioned by the police,” said chairman Ove Marklund to NSD.

He added that it is still unknown how the mower came to run over the man. “It has been established that this is what killed him. There was no indication that the machine was faulty,” Marklund said.