MACON, Ga. — The family of a man killed at a Macon manufacturing plant has hired an attorney.
At a press conference held outside a courthouse in downtown Macon Thursday, L. Chris Stewart tore into Nichiha.
“Nichiha has notoriously gotten away with multiple instances of tragedy…how many have to die before something’s done?” asked Stewart.
He commended OSHA for investigating and fining the company in the past, after previous inspections found dozens of violations.
Stewart said Nichiha has not contacted Willie Bonner’s family about his death.
He alleged that they have issued a statement to media, but haven’t spoken to family and that ‘doing that may have prevented them [the family] from lawyering up.’
One of Bonner’s sisters, Ruby Young-Bonner, broke down in tears while speaking about her brother and her outrage at the company.
“I’m grieving because my brother went to work, he was killed at work. The family is really going through something because he went to make an earning and never came home. Nobody called us to tell us he was injured, we got it through secondhand information… we want answers, we want my brother back,” she said.
Stewart concluded by saying that if Nichiha doesn’t care about being fined, ‘then maybe they’ll listen to a lawsuit.’
Here is the full text of Nichiha's statement to WMAZ about Bonner's death:
This morning, October 16, 2019, around 8:00 a.m., a temporary worker at our Macon, Ga., plant lost his life. Our hearts are with the family and friends of Willie Bonner, who has been working with the company since August 2019. Mr. Bonner’s family has been notified, and grief counselors are onsite for our employees.
The details of the incident are under active investigation with the assistance of both local law enforcement and the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and all employees within Nichiha are cooperating with these efforts.
We will continue to update with new information as it becomes available.
We are saddened and shocked by this loss of life, and are committed to doing all we can to understand how this tragedy occurred and to prevent it from happening again.
We offer our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Bonner.
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