Jim Wells County worker seriously hurt in Alice equipment accident

A 24-year-old Jim Wells County Precinct 1 employee was seriously hurt in Alice on Tuesday morning after machinery at a county work site suddenly came on and trapped his leg.

Commissioner George Aguilar said the worker was inside a bin for reasons that were not immediately clear when, around 10 a.m. on May 5, another worker accidentally powered on the equipment. The moving machinery twisted the man’s right leg around a shaft with spikes, leaving him trapped and badly injured below the knee.

Emergency crews rushed to the scene and worked to free him from the equipment. Fire crews, EMS and HALO-Flight all took part in the rescue and transport, and the worker was flown to a Corpus Christi hospital for treatment. His condition was not released.

Jim Wells County Sheriff’s Office deputies were also at the site gathering information and trying to determine exactly how the incident happened and why the employee was inside the equipment at the time. The injury immediately put a spotlight on the protections in place for county workers handling heavy machinery and on how quickly a routine job can turn dangerous when equipment is powered up without warning.

Aguilar, who serves as Jim Wells County’s Precinct 1 commissioner, said he had stepped away from the site for about 20 minutes when he got the call about the accident. That detail underscores how fast a normal workday in a county yard or maintenance area can shift into a rescue operation.

The incident is likely to draw close attention inside county government as well. Jim Wells County’s Safety & Inspection Department handles employee safety, loss control, emergency management and homeland security functions, making it one of the key offices tied to any review of work-site procedures after a serious injury. County records and Commissioners Court minutes could later show whether officials discuss changes to training, machine lockout practices or other safeguards for Precinct 1 crews and other county employees.

The accident left one worker hospitalized and raised immediate questions about how county equipment is operated and who is responsible for making sure it stays safe for the people who work around it every day.