TOLEDO, Ohio — Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify when the Toledo Assembly Complex will reopen, according to Stellantis.
Investigators from Stellantis, the United Auto Workers and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are conducting investigations into an employee's death on Wednesday at the Toledo Assembly Complex, which is set to reopen on Friday, according to Stellantis.
"They'll never get this out of their mind, what they saw, and it's going to be very difficult," said UAW Local 12 President Bruce Baumhower.
The death of Antonio Gaston, 53, was ruled accidental, according to a report Thursday from the Lucas County Coroner's Office.
Gaston was working on the Jeep Gladiator line, tightening undercarriage body bolts, according to an early Toledo police report also released on Thursday. He then became caught under a vehicle moving on the assembly line and was fatally injured, the report said.
OSHA, the company, and other investigators are still determining exactly what happened.
"Everybody is down here full-court press trying to figure out how this could happen," Baumhower said. "And really it's just unthinkable to think it can happen. You go to work and think you're going to build Jeeps and come back home."
OSHA said its investigation could take six months to complete.
"Those investigations do include copious amounts of interviews with witnesses, employees, the labor organization and then as well as the employer themselves," said Dan Steffen, assistant area director of Toledo's OSHA office.
Steffen said OSHA will also look at the physical conditions of the worksite and review Stellantis' health and safety programs and how they're implemented.
"Following our evaluation, if we do find deficiencies in relation to OSHA standards or industry standards, there's a potential for employers receiving violations or citations relating to our findings," he said.
During the investigation, Baumhower said the UAW is offering counselors and chaplains for workers to contact should they need counseling at home while the plant remains closed.
"I've heard so many stories from people telling me what they saw," said Baumhower. "It was something nobody should ever have to see, especially with one of their own coworkers on the assembly, somebody they admired immensely."
Baumhower offered condolences to Gaston's family and said his coworkers had complimentary things to say about him and his character.
"The people that I've talked to about him — I've never had the pleasure of meeting him — say that he's the nicest young man you'll ever meet in your life, put a smile on everybody's face, came to work every day smiling," Baumhower said.
Baumhower previously told WTOL 11 that the plant would be closed for the remainder of the week.
