A tree worker was killed on February 23, 2022, in Barryville, New York, when several 50- to 100-pound ground-protection mats he was stacking fell off an aerial-lift truck and landed on him.
Aaron Terpstra, 21, of Lake Huntington, N.Y., was working for a tree-trimming contractor for New York State Electric & Gas at the time of the incident. The mats are used for the trucks to drive or park in muddy areas so as not to sink in.
Terpstra was stacking the mats after trimming trees when the fatal incident occurred. He was wearing a hard hat but went into cardiac arrest when he was pulled from under the mats.
Terpstra, who was a White Lake, N.Y., volunteer firefighter, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to a Mid-Hudson News report.
