Bradley Clouse left his house in Richmond on Wednesday morning expecting a regular shift at work. He said goodbye to his wife, Chelsea, and drove out to the Astemo Americas plant in Berea. He had worked maintenance at the facility since March 2023. By 7:30 a.m., he was dead inside a piece of industrial equipment.
The emergency call came in to Berea dispatch around 6:50 a.m. First responders rushed to the Mayde Road factory after workers reported a man trapped inside a machine. When police officers and fire crews got to the floor, they had to open the robotic machinery to get to him.
It was already too late to save him. Deputy Coroner Carlos Coyle reported that Clouse died from severe blunt force trauma. He was 33 years old. Clouse leaves behind his wife of seven years, Chelsea Clouse, whom he married back in 2019.
Preliminary details show that Clouse went inside the robotic equipment to check on a varnish leak after the unit stopped working correctly. As he stepped in to inspect the malfunction, the heavy mechanism moved and crushed him.
Investigators are now focusing on how the machine turned on while Clouse was inside. Initial reports state that the equipment was locked out before he went in to check the leak. That fact has raised serious questions for state safety inspectors.
Kentucky OSHA and the Berea Police Department are both investigating the incident. The Madison County Coroner’s Office sent his body to Frankfort for an official autopsy to confirm all details of the death.
Back in Richmond, friends and family are struggling with the sudden loss of a hardworking young man. A simple morning routine turned into a tragedy that left a family grieving and looking for answers about workplace safety.
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