A Christchurch man who was crushed to death in a
freak accident while reversing out of his garage last year may have been
saved by wearing a seatbelt, the coroner says.
Geoffrey David
Skinner, 41-year-old radio technician, had been going out to get the
family's fish and chip order, when his wife found him 40 minutes later,
trapped between his Nissan Cefiro and the garage wall at their Casebrook
home.
Police analysis showed Mr Skinner had opened his driver's door as he was reversing, perhaps to better see where he was going.
The
door became entangled with a shelving unit in the narrow space, forcing
the car to slide sideways and into another car in the garage.
Mr
Skinner had tried to steer away from the parked car but by doing so was
partially pushed out of the driver's seat and when the car hit the
garage wall he was pinned between the wall and the car's front pillar.
A post-mortem showed Mr Skinner died quickly from crush injuries.
Coroner
Sue Johnson, in her findings released on Tuesday, ruled the primary
cause of Mr Skinner's death was because he had not been wearing a
seatbelt.
If he had been wearing a seatbelt it would have been
highly unlikely he would have been partially pushed out of the car, she
said.
Mr Skinner returned a blood alcohol level of 14 milligrams
per 100 millilitres of blood, which was consistent with the evidence he
had only had a mouthful of beer beforehand, and it did not contribute to
his loss of control, Ms Johnson said.
NZN