Six months to the day after a tragic detasseling accident in Whiteside County OSHA releases it will not issue any citations. On July 25th, Jade Garza and Hannah Kendall, both 14 years old, were killed when they came in contact with an irrigator in a field near Tampico.
OSHA subsequently opened an investigation into the Monsanto Corporation, the company that employed the girls, and R & J Enterprises of Illinois, the company that operated the detasseling crew. While it's tragic, the agency found no evidence of violations. "We have no evidence that the that people could have known the irrigation system could have been charged by a lightning strike," said Steve Allen a spokesperson for OSHA.
So what's next for the families still dealing with the loss of the two girls? One attorney representing several parents is calling OSHA's efforts in the investigation inadequate, and a let down. Attorneys say they and the families will press forward for answers, closure and justice.
"The family struggles everyday with this," said James Mertes an attorney for the Garza family and Hannah Kendall's mother. Parents and loved ones remain as heartbroken as they were six months ago. A relative of Hannah Kendall calls the OSHA results a "hard blow." However, attorney's representing the families say it does not affect pending lawsuits that claim more should have been done, accusing multiple defendants of negligence.
The lawsuit Brian Kendall filed in August names five parties including Monsanto and R &J Enterprises. While OSHA reps say they found no violation, attorney Todd Smith calls their report nonsensical. "In the very next sentence after they say they're not issuing a violation they go on to talk about how this can be done properly to avoid people being killed or injured in the future," said Smith.
The parents of Jade Garza as well as Hannah Kendall's mother filed separate, but similar suits within the last couple of months. Their attorney says, while there will be no citation from OSHA and that investigation is over, he believes more answers will come through the justice system. "The question they wake up with everyday in the morning and go to sleep with every night is what happened to our little girls and that's the question our investigation focuses on. That's a question that is much more broader in time, more exhaustively answered than what OSHA can answer," said Mertes.
Along with Monsanto and R & J Enterprises, the lawsuits were filed against the owners of the cornfield where the accident happened, the person who farms the land, and Commonwealth Edison Company, which owns and operates the electrical meter associated with the irrigation system.
