MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2015
CANNON FALLS, MINNESOTA
The Minnesota Occupational Health and Safety Administration
is investigating the death of an 81-year old Goodhue man who died last week
while working at O'Reilly Auto Parts in Cannon Falls.
John Simon Schafer died Thursday following a work accident.
He was 81.
Cannon Falls Police Chief Jeff McCormick said an officer was
dispatched to the store at 12:24 p.m. after Schafer reportedly fell from a
ladder. He was 8 feet to 10 feet off the ground while working in a confined
area with metal racking, McCormick said. The fall was not observed and no foul
play is suspected.
Schafer was unconscious and bleeding from the head when
medical personnel arrived, according to the police report. He was airlifted to
Mayo Clinic Hospital - Saint Marys Campus in Rochester, where he was pronounced
dead later that day.
The manager of the Cannon Falls store where the accident
occurred and officials at O'Reilly's corporate headquarters in Missouri both declined
comment on Monday.
James Honerman, an OSHA spokesman, confirmed Monday that an
investigation into Schafer's death began last week. He said there's "no
set time frame for the investigation process, but we began our investigation on
Friday. The details of our investigation are not public until the case is
closed."
According to his obituary, Schafer was born in 1933 in Lake
City. He graduated from high school in Red Wing before spending decades farming
in Goodhue County. Upon retirement in 1985, he worked at Dairy Farmers of
American in Zumbrota for 14 years.
It's unclear how long he'd been employed by O'Reilly Auto
Parts.
Schafer's funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday at
Immanuel Lutheran Church in Hay Creek. He will be buried in the St. Peter's Lutheran
Church Cemetery in Belvidere.