Man dies when mower pins him in pond

Owner of the farm, William "Bill" Russell, covered in scrapes and mud from trying to pull the lawnmower off of the victim. Photo by Shelley Smith, Salisbury Post.

The lawnmower, almost fully submerged along the bank of the pond. Photo by Shelley Smith, Salisbury Post.

James Reddick, who often worked with the victim. Photo by Shelley Smith, Salisbury Post.

Rowan Iredell and Cleveland fire departments were first on scene. Photo by Shelley Smith, Salisbury Post.

Rowan County Sheriff's Deputy Travis Allen talks to Bill Russell. Photo by Shelley Smith, Salisbury Post.

By Shelley Smith

ssmith@salisburypost.com

A Cleveland man died Monday after being pinned underwater by a riding lawnmower for 26 minutes.

Genovevo “Johnny” Garcia, 53, of 3895 Needmore Road, was unresponsive when medical responders pulled him from the pond. They performed CPR and took Garcia by ambulance to Davis Regional Medical Center in Statesville, where a doctor pronounced him dead.

The accident happened on a farm near Cleveland just before 11:20 a.m. Monday.

William “Bill” Russell, who owns the farm at 1285 Phifer Road, said Garcia had been mowing the grass along the edge of a pond on the property when the mower tipped over and rolled into the water on top of Garcia.

Russell said he saw Garcia fall into the pond and drove his four-wheeler over to the water to help.

“He was just right around the edge there, going really slow, and he flipped over,” Russell said. “I went and tried to pull the mower off of him and tried to pull it off. It was a big mower, a Bobcat.”

Russell, covered in mud from getting into the pond and trying to pull the mower off Garcia, said he couldn’t do much to help. He has a prosthetic leg, and the weight of the Bobcat proved too much for him.

Another worker, James Reddick, said he was working on the hill near the home and heard the lawnmower cut off. Then he heard Russell yelling.

“I thought he maybe hit something when I heard the lawnmower shut down,” Reddick said. “It’s crazy.”

Medical responders pulled Garcia out of the water at 11:44 a.m., according to emergency radio communications.

Kenny Payne, chief of Cleveland Fire Department, said when he and other first responders got to the scene, Russell had to show them where the mower went in. The deep water had all but swallowed it.

“When we got in the water, we found he was turned over on his side and had his legs pinned underneath the mower,” Payne said.

Four firefighters waded into the water and tried to lift the mower off Garcia, but they couldn’t. The firefighters eventually made a pulley system using Russell’s four-wheeler, a rope and a nearby tree to lift the mower off Garcia.

Payne said Garcia had no pulse when the firefighters pulled him from the water and tried to save his life.

“We try to train for something like this our whole careers,” Payne said. “This time, he was under there just too long. It took us a while to get it off of him. The water was a lot deeper than we thought.”

Russell said Garcia had worked for him a few hours every morning for the past three years and that he lived with one of his friends down the road.

“He was a real hard worker. He was honest,” Russell said. “When we’d go out of town, he’d watch over.”

Russell said Garcia has a brother in Mocksville, but he didn’t know of any other relatives.

The Rowan-Iredell and Cleveland fire departments responded along with Rowan County EMS and the Rowan County Rescue Squad.

Contact Shelley Smith at 704-797-4246.