Several weeks ago, Illinois resident David Pittas discovered something terrible had happened. He found his son, 26 year old Timothy Pittas, caught in the machinery of a salt-spreader owned by the family business. Timothy had fallen against the auger — the device which spreads the salt, and his clothes were immediately tangled in the machine, ultimately strangling him.
“The only reason we’re doing this is so no other person has to go through what I’m going through, or what my wife is going through or my (other) son is going through or my daughter is going through. It’s wrong to bury your son, and it’s wrong that we had to. If I can save one other person’s life with this, then Tim didn’t die in vain,” said David Pittas when asked about the nature of the suit.
According to the documents of the lawsuit, Timothy was outside using the spreader when his clothes were snagged and he was killed. David came out to check on Timothy, only to find his son’s lifeless body. The suit is naming the manufacturer and the stores selling this model of salt spreader as defendants in the suit, hoping to prevent such accidents in the future. Named in the suit are Buyers Products of North Dakota who manufactured the spreader, Rockenbach Chevrolet who sold the truck and spreader, and Rugby Manufacturing Company of Ohio, who is believed to have installed the spreader. Pittas is seeking damages in excess of fifty thousand dollars in compensation for his son’s death. None of the defendants have commented on the case.
David Pittas closed his comments by saying, “It is very difficult for me at the business. It’s where he died. It’s the place he took his last breath, and I see that, and I get real sad — and I get real sad about how horrific his death was.”
