A woman who was impaled by a crowbar Home Depot in Roswell last week is expected to make a full recovery, fire officials announced Saturday.
Emergency responders were called to the store on Tuesday evening after an employee was found with a crowbar through her ribs, police said.
The accident happened around 8:15 p.m. at the Market Center at Holcomb Woods shopping mall in the 1500 block of Holcomb Bridge Road, according to a Roswell police report.
The victim, a 54-year-old woman, was standing on a forklift in the store’s receiving area when officers arrived. Police said she couldn’t move because the crowbar went through her abdomen and the other side was stuck to a cardboard compactor behind her. Officers noted there was little blood at the scene because the crowbar was keeping pressure on the wound.
Roswell firefighters devised a plan and cut the crowbar while limiting the victim’s movement as much as possible.
Paramedics then put the woman on a stretcher and took her to Wellstar North Fulton Hospital. She underwent surgery Tuesday and remained stable as of Saturday.
The report did not indicate how the accident happened.
An employee told officers he was walking to the receiving room in the back of the store when he heard a horn honking and the victim yelling for help. The coworker said he found the woman in the back area alone. He tried to move the forklift away from the compactor, but realized the victim couldn’t move.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has begun an investigation into the incident, an OSHA official confirmed Friday.
“We’re grateful that our associate is receiving care and recovering,” Home Depot spokeswoman Margaret Smith said.
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