Santa Ana : Worker Pinned by 1-Ton Safe in Stable Condition

A tall, 2,000-pound safe being moved at a defunct hardware store toppled onto a mover’s chest, but hospital authorities said the man was in stable condition Wednesday.

The freak accident occurred Tuesday afternoon at the former Handyman store on East 17th Street near Tustin Avenue, according to Fire Department officials.

The safe toppled onto Daniel Ames, 41, of Long Beach, one of several men hired by an unidentified buyer to remove the safe, said Robert J. Dutcher, an auctioneer who sold the safe Monday.

Movers had tilted the safe backward and were trying to slide a wooden pallet under it, while Ames, who was sitting on the floor behind the safe, pushed the pallet with his feet, according to one man at the scene who asked not to be identified.

“I don’t think these guys knew that safes are top heavy. In this case, the cash vault was up on top so people using the safe wouldn’t have to stoop down,” the man said.

The accident occurred just minutes after a professional safe mover had handed his business card to Ames and the other men.

Ames screamed in pain, then lost consciousness during the four to five minutes it took six men to finally lift the safe up to free him.

Battalion Chief John Chambers said Fire Department paramedics rushed Ames to nearby Western Medical Center, where he was admitted to the intensive care unit and at first listed in guarded condition. Later Wednesday, he was listed as stable.