www.lewiscountywatch.com
The Lewis County Coroner’s Office has identified a man killed Monday morning in a logging accident as Robert Becker, 63, of Chehalis.
Becker’s autopsy has not yet been conducted, Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod said, so an official cause of death is not yet available.
“We’re not anticipating it being something we don’t expect,” he said.
The incident was first reported at 9 a.m. Monday in the 800 block of Pleasant Valley Road in Chehalis. Deputies from the Sheriff’s Office and aid crews arrived to find a tree had fallen on a 63-year-old Chehalis man, causing extensive head and chest injuries.
Becker died of his injuries.
Becker’s brother, a 68-year-old Chehalis man, reportedly told deputies that the two of them were logging on the property using a tree processor “when a tree fell in an unexpected trajectory,” said Chief Deputy Dusty Breen in a news release.
The victim reportedly attempted to outrun the tree, but was unsuccessful.
The older brother cleared away the tree debris from Becker and performed CPR until aid crews arrived, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Both brothers were experienced loggers and the logging equipment on the property belonged to them. The logging activity was not done in connection with a business, according to the Sheriff’s Office, but was a private enterprise.
