Second tire death reported in 2 months in Lee County

Reporter: Asha Patel Writer: Bryanna Sterzenbach
Published: Updated:

A man was killed after a tire exploded while he was inflating it at A Expert Tire & Service in San Carlos Park, making it the second death of its kind in Lee County within the past year.

Back in June, a tire exploded and killed an employee at a Firestone in Cape Coral.

WINK News reporter Asha Patel went to the scene to see if there were any similarities in the incidents.

The death that occurred on Monday night is similar to the one back in June because both men died while inflating a tire, but the scenarios are different.

“A lot has to do with people being inexperienced, and they are selling a lot of old tires,” said Jared Tracy, owner of JT’s Autoshop.

According to a report by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, they found Richard Vallini with severe trauma to the head, and they spoke to another employee who witnessed the accident.

The employee said he and Vallini were relieving the tire of some air pressure, and then the tire blew off of the rim and struck Vallini in the head, killing him.

When the tire blew off the rim, it also struck the employee in the leg.

Tracy said he has strict rules at his business. “I keep governors on my machines to make sure my guys can’t go past a certain psi, and I inspect tires before I install to make sure they are safe.”

When we informed Tracy about this situation, he said, “Another one?”

Back in June, the Firestone in Cape Coral had a similar incident with an employee trying to inflate a tire and then pressing down on the tire with his body weight, causing the tire with the rim inside to explode, killing him.

“I don’t go past 60 psi. If a tire goes past that we ain’t gonna deal with it,” said Tracy.

LCSO is investigating this with OSHA.

OSHA is investigating both deaths, the one in San Carlos Park and the one from back in June at Firestone.

WINK News has reached out to OSHA, and as of right now, they are both still open and ongoing investigations.

Stay tuned to WINKNews.com, WINK News App, streaming, and on-air for any new developments on this story.

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