Woman killed after forklift runs her over at Clayton County business

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — A woman died when she was run over by a forklift at a business in Lake City, Georgia.

Insurance Auto Auction is a business that processes vehicles that have been involved in accidents.

According to Lake City Police Chief Tony Whitmire, customers who come to the business are typically picking up repossessed vehicles, cleaning personal items out of repossessed vehicles, settling insurance claims, or buying used automobiles.

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Insurance Auto Auction uses a forklift to move vehicles from lot to lot that cannot be driven.

According to Chief Whitmire, a woman was standing in front of one of the gates to the salvage lot.

He believes the woman was picking up personal items from a car and looking through the items on a cart.

The gate she was standing near opened and a forklift carrying a car came through the gate, running her over and killing her almost instantly.

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Chief Whitmire said the forklift driver could not see her due to the car he was transporting in front of him and did not realize he had run her over until he was coming back across the street after unloading the car.

Chief Whitmire said the standard procedure at Insurance Auto Auction is for forklift operators to blow the horn numerous times before coming through an area.

It is unknown at this time whether he didn’t blow the horn, she didn’t hear it, or she ignored it.

The investigation into the circumstances surrounding the accident continues.

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