The president of a Haverhill marina, where a man received “severe” facial injuries Saturday morning, said he and his staff are “all shocked and saddened by the accident.”
Randall Bennett, president of Kazmiera Marina, told WHAV a marina “employee was moving a trailered boat with a fork truck that has a trailer ball attached for that purpose, as he does 200 times a year. He had two other employees working as spotters to block any traffic and guide him.”
“The trailer broke loose and kept rolling. He brought the fork truck to the front of the boat and accidentally hit the boat with a mirror on the fork truck. The mirror then hit him in the face and broke his jaw. He asked another employee to call 911 and the fire department arrived within minutes,” Bennett added.
Bennett said a customer of the marina, who is also an emergency medical technician was only 40 feet away and administered first aid immediately. He said the technician talked with the 911 operator until the fire department took control.
Fire Chief Robert M. O’Brien told WHAV over the weekend the Haverhill Fire Department’s Engine 3, Rescue 1 and Car 2 from the Water Street station were dispatched just before 7:30 a.m. to the marina at 72 Coffin Ave.
O’Brien said firefighters arrived and found “a gentleman face down with severe injuries in and about the face area. There was no entrapment and no one was pinned at the time.”
O’Brien added firefighters administered initial medical care and then the unidentified man was taken by Trinity EMS to Lawrence General Hospital and later airlifted to a Boston-area hospital.