Allegheny County Courthouse
PITTSBURGH – A Pennsylvania paving contractor died from injuries sustained jumping out of a runaway roller, a recently filed lawsuit alleges.
Bill Chandler, the owner and operator of B.C. Blacktopping, had rented a Stone Construction Equipment roller to pave a customer’s driveway in Washington County in May 2024, the lawsuit filed last week in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas says.
But it lost its forward momentum and began to roll backwards toward the street.
“In a panic, and out of desperation, decedent attempted to jump or otherwise remove himself from the roller as it began to accelerate rearward downhill,” the lawsuit says. “In doing so, decedent tragically fell and suffered catastrophic injuries.”
Eight days later, his family took him off life-support. The lawsuit filed on behalf of his estate names Stone, Fayco Rentals and The Toro Company as defendants. Toro acquired Stone in April 2012, and the machine at issue is the Stone SR2500 Delux EZ Roller Double Drum Roller.
It was defective, the suit says, and the defendants failed to warn customers of the risks of using it. It was designed with a likelihood that the system creating forward momentum could fail if the roller was on a slope.
“The manufacturing defects of the subject roller could have been eliminated, and the roller could have been made safer for its intended use with proper inspection, testing and quality control of the roller,” the suit says.
Peter Friday of Friday & Cox in Pittsburgh represents the plaintiff.
