by justin strawser
JACKSON TOWNSHIP - A small community was met with tragedy Saturday when one of its own was crushed to death in the rollover of a quarter-ton lawn tractor.
Barry Norman Snyder, 68, of 209 Derl Road, was riding a red 23HP Simplicity near a ditch on his property just off Route 225 when the tractor rolled down the embankment and trapped him underneath, said state police at Stonington.
Police say family members discovered the scene and immediately called 911. The call came across the scanner
shortly after 4 p.m.
Northumberland County Deputy Coroner Barry Leisenring pronounced him dead at the scene at 5:15 p.m., listing the cause of death as accidental compressional asphyxiation.
The model tractor is listed as weighing 585 pounds on mowerdirect.com.
"Nobody knows exactly what happened. That's why there was such a delay (in removing the body)," said Herndon Fire Chief Tony Gilligan.
The yard he was mowing is on an incline.
"He's a very good person. I always stop and talk to them (he and his family)," said Bob Dirk, a neighbor at 2884 State Route 225. "They would give you the shirt off their backs."
Dirk and several other neighbors were waiting in a driveway and watching the scene. Each person described Snyder the same, as a good man in a quiet neighborhood.
Bob Rebuck, of 2872 State Route 225, said the family lived there for years and built the house in 1971, but he knew them before they moved there.
"He was a wonderful neighbor. That's all I can say," he said.
Gilligan said they initially couldn't identify Snyder because he was pinned beneath the tractor with his face pressed into the ground.
The scene, located on the edge of the property along Rebuck Road, was down an embankment several feet deep and covered by brush and trees. The mower was not turned on when he was discovered.
Police tape was stretched across the two-lane road from a tree on the man's property to a mailbox on the other side. Because neighbors and family members watched from various yards and front porches, the rescue workers placed a blanket up while they investigated.
The coroner arrived at approximately 5 p.m.
A few minutes later, a crying woman drove through a driveway that connected Route 225 and Rebuck Road, apologizing and saying she needed to get through.
At approximately 6:15 p.m., rescue personnel moved the body to a Dalmatia ambulance, blocking the view with red sheets. By 6:45 p.m., they had pulled the tractor from the brush.
State Trooper Ronald Zanella and Gilligan were assisted at the scene by Americus Hose Company Ambulance, Sunbury, Herndon Community Fire Department, Pillow Fire Rescue and Dalmatia Fire Department.JACKSON TOWNSHIP - Barry Norman Snyder, 68, of 209 Derl Road, died when the lawn tractor he was operating rolled down an embankment and trapped him underneath.
A complete report will be published in Sunday's edition of The News-Item.