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Victim of Tractor Accident Identified

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Coroner’s officials identified an Oxnard man crushed to death by a tractor in the Santa Rosa Valley as Ladislao Najera Esparza.

Esparza, 29, was working from the front of a tractor as it was backing down a steep horse trail Monday in the gated community of Lexington Hills near Moorpark and Santa Rosa roads.

The tractor flipped and Esparza was trapped under one of the steel arms extending from the cab to the scooper bucket, where he was sitting.

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Deputy Medical Examiner Armando Chavez said an autopsy showed that Esparza suffocated due to chest compression.

Authorities said the driver of the tractor, Abelardo Menendez of Oxnard, lost control on the steep grade. The two men were working for Roberts Lawn Care Landscape Maintenance in Moorpark, clearing horse trails and spraying pesticide to control weeds.

This was the second fatal industrial accident in Ventura County in less than a week and the fifth accident since August.

On Dec. 7, 44-year-old Samuel Brewer died at a Westlake construction site after an engine he was attempting to move fell from a crane extension and crushed his skull.

Officials with the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health are investigating both accidents.

The company that employed Esparza could be fined as much as $25,000 if Cal/OSHA officials determine it was at fault. A report will be completed within four to six weeks, officials said.

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Esparza had a wife and two daughters in his native Mexico. His body will be transported to Mexico for burial, Chavez said.

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