Report Offers New Details On Home Depot Fatality

By Andrew Gorosko

DANBURY — A Danbury police investigation into the July 9 death of a Sandy Hook man at the Home Depot building supplies store on Federal Road indicates that a bound unit of about 70 landscaping timbers which fell down on the man had been stacked upon some loose timbers.

Jeffrey Mead, 41, of Far View Drive, Sandy Hook, died in the accident.

Mr Mead and his twin brother, Dennis Mead, also of Sandy Hook, were pinned beneath a bundle of 3-inch by 5-inch landscaping timbers that had fallen down onto the two at the store. Police have estimated that the bundle weighed approximately 2,000 pounds. Both brothers were removed from the fallen timbers and transported to Danbury Hospital, where Jeffrey Mead was pronounced dead. An autopsy performed at the chief state medical examiner’s office in Farmington indicated the accidental death was caused by multiple blunt trauma injuries.

Dennis Mead was treated for injuries and later released from the hospital.

Attorney Angelo Ziotas, who represents Dennis Mead and the survivors of Jeffrey Mead, released the contents of the Danbury police investigation into the incident last week. Mr Ziotas said he expects he will file a lawsuit against Home Depot seeking damages on behalf of Dennis Mead and the survivors of Jeffrey Mead. Mr Ziotas questioned safety measures taken by the store.

According to the Danbury police investigation, Officer David Torielli interviewed Dennis Mead to learn how the Mead twins had become trapped by the falling wood.

“Dennis stated that Jeffrey and himself were picking over some loose 3 by 5 [inch] timbers that were on the pavement… Dennis stated that there was not much to choose from, so the two went to the other side of the stack of timbers. Dennis stated they began picking through the timbers that were on the pavement again when he heard a creaking sound. Dennis Mead stated that the two noticed that the top unit of timbers on the stack [of three units] started shifting over in their direction. Dennis stated that both Jeffrey and himself attempted to hold the top unit, but were unable to do so.”

“The unit then crashed down on the two, pinning Dennis’ legs and falling directly on top of Jeffrey,” the police report adds.

People who were in the area then worked to pull Dennis Mead free from the crashed timbers and continued working to uncover Jeffrey Mead from the crashed timbers, according to the report.

“Dennis stated that Jeffrey and himself did not touch the standing pile of timber, but only selected loose timbers that were on the pavement,” the report adds.

“Upon closer inspection of the pile of 3 by 5 timbers that had fallen on the Meads, it could be seen that there were two full banded units stacked on top of one another, with many loose timbers stacked on top of the second unit. It appears that the third banded unit that had fallen was stacked on top of the loose timbers,” the report adds.

According to the police report, Steve Rooney, who is one of the store’s managers, had confirmed to police that the third, uppermost unit of stacked timbers was stacked on loose timbers.

“Rooney did state that customers were not allowed on the side of the pile [from] which the timbers fell,” the report states.

 Mr Ziotas, the Meads’ lawyer, said the Mead brothers were not in an off-limits area when the incident occurred.

Gene Autore, the manager of the Home Depot store, has said that no one apparently witnessed the accident in which Jeffrey Mead died and Dennis Mead was injured, leaving the circumstances of the incident unclear. Mr Autore has said that no store employees or store equipment were involved in the incident.

Jeffrey Mead grew up in Ridgefield and previously had lived in Norwalk for 10 years before making Sandy Hook his home for the past 11/2  years. He was employed at the Peoples Bank of Newtown.