WINONA LAKE – A Warsaw man died Sunday evening while operating a skid-loader at his residence just south of Winona Lake. Kosciusko County Deputy Coroner Tony Ciriello pronounced John Bud Elliott, 65, dead from blunt force trauma to the chest. According to a press release from the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department, emergency personnel responded Sunday at approximately 6:48 p.m. to 1657 E. CR 225S, Warsaw, after receiving a 911 call of a male subject trapped under a skid-loader. Law enforcement officers and paramedics arrived and located Elliott crushed between hydraulic bucket arms and the bodywork of a 610 Bobcat skid-loader. Ciriello stated that it initially appears that Elliot had been possibly exiting the front of the skid-loader, at which point his clothing got caught on the hydraulic operating lever and he was pinched between the machinery. Elliot had originally left his residence at approximately 6 p.m. and had not returned for supper when his wife began to investigate and eventually located him. Ciriello stated that it was currently unknown what Elliot was preparing to use the bucket ski-loader for initially. The incident is currently under investigation, but is initially being listed as a farming accident by the Kosciusko County Coroner’s Office. Also assisting at the scene were members of the Warsaw/Wayne Township Fire Territory, Winona Lake Fire Department, Multi-Township EMS, Winona Lake Police Department and the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department.
