ORLANDO, Fla. _ A Walt Disney World worker was killed Monday when the utility cart he was working on jumped a curb, ran into chain-link fence and then fell on him, an Orange County Sheriff's Office report revealed Tuesday.
The accident killed Juan Alberto Ojeda, 33, of Kissimmee, who had been working on the cart's battery. He was later declared dead at the scene, a backstage area used by Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort for vehicle maintenance.
Employee Danny Vazquez, who was showing a new hire around, witnessed the accident from 20 yards away. Vazquez heard "a screeching sound and turned to see a Toro utility vehicle drive up onto a curb" and travel several feet up the fence before falling on top of him, the report said.
Ojeda asked Vazquez to back the red cart off him and then said he couldn't breathe before he fell unconscious, the report said.
Vazquez estimated the cart drove 6 feet into the fence before coming back down on the ground on top of Ojeda. The new hire, Josh Willner, estimated it was closer to 3 feet, the report said.
Willner and Vazquez tried to lift the cart off Ojeda but it was too heavy, and they feared hurting him even more if they drove it, according to the report.
Disney declined to comment on the accident Tuesday, other than to say it happened in a nonpublic area.
The federal Occupational and Safety Health Administration was investigating as well but would not release any details, either.
Meanwhile, a second accident hours later on the theme park property left another Disney employee hurt, officials said.
The accident occurred at about 10:30 p.m. at 2901 Osceola Parkway, the address for Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge, sheriff's spokeswoman Deputy Ingrid Tejada-Monforte said.
A man had fallen and injured himself before calling 911, according to the sheriff's office. He was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries.
