Man Killed While Rescuing Injured Horse

Police, fire and EMS from Perry Township were called just before 7:30 p.m. Monday to a serious accident involving a front-end loader. Emergency crews arrived in the 10000 block of Ammity Road and found 64-year-old John McDermott crushed underneath the equipment.

McDermott and a girlfriend were using the equipment to lift an injured horse from the ground, in an attempt to get the horse walking. Once the horse was standing, McDermott exited the front-end loader while it was running and stood underneath the heavy equipment bucket to untie the horse.

According to witnesses, the bucket came down on top of McDermott.

Police said the girlfriend did not know how to operate the equipment and ran to a neighbor's house for help. Doug Crowe who was farming across the road quickly responded and was able to lift the equipment off McDermott.

According to police, McDermott owns the property where the accident happened, but no longer lives in Perry Township.

The accident remains under investigation.