Gary Hibbs Sr., a 50-year-old Independence, Missouri man, died in May, more than a month after a forklift flipped over and pinned him for over 15 minutes while he was moving industrial cooling equipment. His lower leg was crushed so badly it required amputation. Danielle said his major organs shut down. His family says they still have no closure, and they want to know who is responsible.
The accident happened on April 16, according to FOX4 Kansas City, which reported that Hibbs's son called his mother, Terri Hibbs, around 10:15 a.m. to say his father was being rushed to the hospital after the forklift tipped onto him. Hibbs was airlifted out, his leg crushed beneath the machine. His son said his father was being pushed “underneath the rug with no answers.”
The equipment Hibbs was moving that day was headed, according to a shipping label cited by the station's report, to SPX Cooling Technologies in Olathe, Kansas. The same day, the Hibbs family visited Huddleston Machinery Moving in Independence and found a large radiator, a wooden crate, and green rubber bands left on the ground — physical remnants of the accident that upended their lives.
A Painful Irony the Family Can't Shake
Terri Hibbs told the outlet that her husband had signed petitions opposing a data center proposed for construction in Independence, yet he died while moving cooling equipment bound for a data center project elsewhere in the country. The radiators themselves, per Terri Hibbs, were destined for a data center outside the Kansas City area. It's a detail the family has had to sit with in the months since his death.
Hibbs spent weeks fighting for his life before he died on May 26, according to his obituary, which says he passed away surrounded by family. He is survived by his wife, Terri Hibbs, and his children, Danielle Hibbs and Gary Hibbs Jr. Terri Hibbs said her husband will miss his children's weddings and his grandchildren's graduations — milestones he won't be there to see.
Family Says It Still Has No Answers
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating Hibbs's case, the report notes, but the family says that hasn't brought them any peace. Danielle Hibbs said the family feels unheard, and relatives say they have received no closure in the months since the accident. The station's report says it reached out to both Huddleston Machinery Moving and SPX Cooling Technologies for comment but received no response from either company.
Jason Roth, a personal injury and wrongful death attorney, told the outlet that litigation often provides the answers families are looking for in cases like this, and that multiple parties can end up under scrutiny before the full picture emerges. He said investigators should look at everyone involved and trace how the incident happened all the way downstream through the companies connected to the job.
Roth also pointed to the nature of data center construction itself, noting that it often involves complex supply chains and construction timelines that are typically expedited. For a family still waiting on answers five months after Hibbs's death, that complexity is cold comfort — but it may be part of why the case remains open months after Hibbs's death.
