CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : EL TORO : Man Dies in Bulldozer Accident

A man was killed in a freak accident at a construction site in Orange County when a piece of metal from a bulldozer snapped off, flew 30 feet and struck him in the chest, authorities said. Sheriff’s Lt. Dick Olson said the accident occurred in Lake Forest, an unincorporated area near El Toro. Workers were folding one of the metal tracks on a large bulldozer when part of the track snapped off, said Jim Johnson, vice president of McCoy Construction Co. of Calabasas. The victim, Jerry Steven Bechel, 31, of Riverside, a driver for McCoy, was standing by his truck 30 feet away, when his chest was pierced by a piece of metal “about the size of a fingernail,” causing him to bleed to death. “This was an extremely freak accident,” Johnson said.