Perryville man dies in construction accident

A Perryville, Missouri, man was killed Monday morning while working on a construction site in southeastern Illinois.

Justin Jokerst, 31, was working a crane and was crushed under the weight of the crane's boom when it lowered onto him, according to a news release from the Edwardsville Fire Department.

Jokerst was an employee of Taylor Excavating Co. of St. Louis.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating. In a Belleville News-Democrat report, Madison County deputy chief coroner Roger Smith said a focus of the investigation is whether the boom lowered on its own or if someone was operating the crane while Jokerst was working on it.

The accident occurred at the site of a 500,000-square-foot addition to a warehouse.

Pertinent address:

Edwardsville, Ill.