Healdsburg Vineyard Worker Dies in Tractor Accident: Update

We now know the name of the young vineyard worker crushed to death by a tractor in a Dry Creek Valley vineyard last week. It was Geyserville resident Ezequiel Orozco, 28, who “was driving the tractor on a muddy private road at 6355 Mountain View Ranch Road just before 8:44 a.m. April 15,” the Press Democrat reports, “when the vehicle overturned and crushed him. Law enforcement and fire officials responding to a reported tractor rollover found Orozco unresponsive under the farming vehicle. He was immediately pronounced dead.” Orozco was employed by Bevill Vineyard Management, a company that winemakers can hire to take care of their grapevines. Back in 2019, he was featured in a Sonoma Index-Tribune story about a new, $1 million bunkhouse that Bevill was building in Healdsburg to house immigrant vineyard workers; Orozco was the one in the story washing the windows and getting the building ready for residents. The company’s founder, Duff Bevill, said in a statement issued to the press last week that Orozco was “a valued employee, a respected colleague and an excellent person.” Bevill added: “We have reached out to his family and we will pay for the funeral costs and pay for the transportation expenses to reunite him with his loved ones.” Cal/OSHA, the state’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, is reportedly still investigating whether any unsafe conditions contributed to Orozco’s death. (Source: Press Democrat & Press Democrat & Bevill Vineyard Management & Sonoma Index-Tribune)