Crime & Safety

Business Owner Crushed in Security Gate Accident

A Commerce Township tool and die shop owner, who lives in West Bloomfield, was crushed in a security gate outside her business.

A 63-year-old West Bloomfield Township woman was crushed to death when she was pinned by a motorized parking lot gate at her business, according to a police report.

The victim, who wasn’t named, was discovered at about 1:30 p.m. Sunday by an employee who was reporting to work at the tool and die shop in the 8100 block of Richardson Road in Commerce Township.

The woman died of asphyxia by compression, according to an autopsy.

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The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said it appears the woman had reached through the chain link fence gate with her keys and somehow became pinned between the moving gate and the fixed portion of the fence near the electrical box.

The Commerce Township Fire Department partially disassembled the gate to extract the victim’s body. The victim’s personal vehicle was parked near the gate with the driver door open and the engine running.

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