TOLEDO, Ohio — Family, friends and coworkers of 53-year-old Antonio Gaston, who was killed in a workplace accident at the Toledo Assembly Complex on Wednesday, are still trying to cope with the recent loss.
Gaston's death from crushing injuries while working on the Jeep Gladiator line was ruled an accident, according to an autopsy from the Lucas County Coroner's Office.
David Green, Region 2B director with the United Auto Workers, said he needs the community to give their condolences, support and prayers, keeping the 2B region family in their hearts.
"We all go to work thinking we're going to go home and we have plans for the weekend and we're going to do things, and it just didn't happen," Green said.
Gaston was a father and husband and a member of the UAW Local 12 family. His death has left a void in many lives.
Tru Parham, a friend of Gaston's, said he's known him for nearly eight years as they worked together on the line and said Gaston even trained him at one point.
"I had a gentleman today who didn't even know (Gaston), he just saw him in passing every day. He said, 'if you saw him, you never think he ever had a bad day through everything he's ever been through his life. He still kept a smile on his face," Parham said.
Parham said no one saw the tragedy coming.
"His wife just happened to be visiting this weekend, it's not what you expected," he said. "I'm sure she kissed her husband on the way out, he went to work and, unfortunately, this situation changed their lives forever."
He said Gaston was a father of four kids and he left his family back home, transferring to the Toledo plant in 2021 from Belvidere, Ill.
As the family grieves their loved one, Parham says he is doing whatever he can to help them and the community get through this, including setting up a GoFundMe page.
"His family is still absorbing everything that's happening, they don't seem to have everything figured out yet so I just wanted to make sure I could do whatever I could," he said.
Gaston's UAW family is also doing whatever they can.
"Keep the entire region in your prayers specifically the folks at Local 12 for the brother we lost yesterday, we all deserve to go home, the way we go to work," Green said. "Be careful whenever you're working in any type of environment."
Parham added that workers will gather at 3:30 p.m. on Monday, which is in between shifts at the plant, to release sky lanterns in Gaston's honor.