BURR, Neb. (AP) - Authorities have released the name of a worker killed in an accident at a cooperative's location in southeast Nebraska's Otoe County.
He was identified as Paul Sliger, 49, who lived in Syracuse, the Otoe County Sheriff's Office said Thursday.
First responders were sent around 3:45 p.m. Wednesday to the Frontier Cooperative site in Burr following a report about a tire exploding. They found the worker later identified as Sliger dead when they arrived and a customer with minor injuries
Sliger had connected an air hose to inflate a large commercial tire and walked away in order to work on another tire, the sheriff's office said. When he returned, a piece of the steel wheel struck him as the tire exploded. The customer was treated at the scene for his minor injuries.
Federal safety regulators will be investigating.