West Dundee Man Likely Crushed to Death in Geneva Commons Bell Tower: Authorities

A construction worker who was killed Friday while trying to install a tower sign at the Geneva Commons was likely crushed to death, authorities said.

"He was working in an aerial lift. We believe he was crushed between the aerial lift and part of the tower," Scott Allen, spokesman for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, told the Aurora Beacon-News. "We are still trying to determine what happened. We do believe he was crushed."

Geneva firefighters responded at 11:48 a.m. Friday for a reported rescue from the central bell tower at the open-air shopping center at 602 Commons Drive. They found two construction workers at the top of the bell tower, one conscious and the other unconscious and unresponsive, according to a Geneva community alert.

The unconscious worker was pronounced dead at the scene. Kane County Coroner Rob Russell later identified him as Donald J. Tentler, 47, of the 600 block of South Seventh Street in West Dundee.

The preliminary cause of death for Tentler was “compressional asphyxia due to mechanical compression of the neck,” Russell said Monday. Toxicology results are still pending.

Meanwhile, Tentler’s death remains under investigation as authorities sort out what exactly happened.

“It seems to be some kind of mechanical malfunction. Whether it was human error or mechanical (failure), I don’t know,” Russell told the Daily Herald. “The worker was pinned by the lifting device.”