Cops: Worker Tried to Feed Colleague Into Wood Chipper

Oregon man charged with attempted murder
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted May 4, 2017 12:44 AM CDT
Cops: Man Tried to Push Co-Worker Into Wood Chipper
Scott Edward Iverson   (Keizer Police Department)

Worst colleague ever? Oregon man Scott Edward Iverson, 26, has been charged with assault and attempted murder after allegedly trying to push a fellow worker at a tree service company near Salem head-first into a wood chipper. Police say a witness told them that as 22-year-old Austin Crawford was loading brush into the running chipper, Iverson "snuck up," put the man in a chokehold, and tried to send him to a gruesome Fargo-style death, the Oregonian reports. As they struggled, with Iverson reportedly trying to push Crawford's head into the machine, another employee noticed the commotion and intervened.

Crawford tells KATU that he remembers thinking, "I don't want to die this way" as his head neared the chipper's blades. He says he had been working with Iverson for three months before the sudden attack, which he says was totally unprovoked. "Prior to this we got along great, you know, we laughed, we joked, we talked," he says. Police say Iverson, who is now being held in the Marion County Correctional Facility, left the scene before they got there and was on the loose for two days until he was arrested at a restaurant on Friday. (This arborist was wearing a helmet when he fell head-first into a wood chipper.)

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