Crushing Modesto’s homeless with heavy machinery has got to stop | Opinion

Surmising that a homeless woman was killed by heavy machinery that ran over her in a Modesto park is not unreasonable. But it also may be inaccurate.

Yes, 27-year-old Christine Chavez may well have been asleep when a tractor or the unit it was towing to mow grass at Beard Brook Park, or both, ran over her on July 8. Statements from family and other unhoused people familiar with her routine make that an entirely plausible scenario.

It’s also true that people who don’t have roofs over their heads are at much higher risk of death than those who do. Mortality rates are 3.5 times higher among the unhoused like Chavez who weren’t elderly, a recent University of Chicago study found.

Right now, it’s apparently unknown whether Chavez was alive when run over July 8. A coroner’s autopsy may pinpoint the cause of death in her tragic case in time, perhaps weeks.

Until then, a rush to judgment — however tempting, given that another nonelderly homeless woman sleeping in public right-of-way suffered an eerily similar fate less than five years ago in Modesto — is unwise.

Recent Bee accounts remind us that Shannon Bigley, 32, was crushed while sleeping in debris by a Caltrans crewman’s front-load bucket clearing a homeless encampment in August 2018. A CHP report found Caltrans at fault for multiple policy violations.

Open questions in Modesto homeless death

No doubt authorities at some point will release more information about the July 8 nightmare in the park. Until answers are forthcoming, a few questions:

Is there safety protocol when using heavy machinery in city parks? If so, how is it enforced when work is contracted out, as was the case July 8?

How tall was the lawn being mowed? There is a big difference between 5-inch grass and 30-inch weeds.

If grass is tall enough to conceal a body — whether dead or asleep — is there policy outlining a procedure to verify?

How can someone driving a tractor towing a mowing unit plow over someone and not notice until the driver spots the body on a subsequent pass?

Because Chavez’s death may have occurred the day after the park transferred in a land swap from city ownership to E. & J. Gallo, does the company — the world’s largest winery, and a significant Modesto employer — share or assume liability? Or might it rest with the contractor, Grover Landscape Services?

Homeless asleep in parks should surprise no one

Given the area’s homeless population, it seems additional caution would be taken when working in a public park. Parks are frequented by homeless people. Every person reading this editorial has witnessed homeless people sleeping in public parks.

To encounter someone sleeping in a park should be expected, planned for and avoided by any and every heavy machine operator, and constantly reinforced by his or her supervisor.

No one deserves to die because she or he fell asleep in a public place. And if already dead, no one’s body should be mangled by heavy machinery.

This story was originally published July 14, 2023 at 5:30 AM.