Horseplay gone wrong: One man dead, another could be going to jail

For new proof of the importance of disciplining crew members when they engage in foolish horseplay, consider the recent tragic death of Tyler Lynch at a job site in Apple Valley, MN.

Lynch and coworker Christoper Crimmins were trimming trees when they decided to start fooling around. As Crimmins sat in the cab of a truck operating a hydraulic grapple attached to the truck’s boom and Lynch was on the ground bundling tree branches, the men noticed that the sunlight was casting shadows of both the grapple and Lynch. Crimmins decided to play a joke by making it appear that the shadow of the grapple was grabbing the shadow of Lynch.

While Crimmins was playing shadow puppets, he failed to notice that the grapple was getting perilously close to Lynch’s head. When Crimmins closed the grapple, it immediately crushed Lynch’s head and killed the 26-year-old man.

Following the incident, Crimmins, 34, of Brainerd, MN, was charged with second-degree manslaughter. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $20,000.

(From the September 14, 2026, issue of Safety Alert for Supervisors. To start you no-obligation trial subscription to the publication right now, please click here.)