SALEM, New Hampshire — A routine maintenance procedure turned tragic Saturday at Sears Auto Center at the Mall at Rockingham Park, when a tire explosion left an employee dead and a customer with serious injuries.
According to Salem police, 22-year-old Justin Almon, of Sandown, New Hampshire, died after the large truck tire he was fixing exploded, knocking him and the customer, 23-year-old Adam Sproul of Boothbay, Maine, to the ground inside the auto center’s garage.
Both men were found unconscious when Salem police officers and firefighters responded to the scene shortly after 7:45 a.m., according to Sgt. Chad Clark, who addressed the media at a press conference in front of the police station late Saturday afternoon.
“One of [the victims] had a severe head injury, and the other [Sproul] was brought back [to consciousness] by Salem fire,” Clark said.
Almon was taken to Parkland Medical Center in Derry, where he was pronounced dead shortly after his arrival. Clark said Almon had “coughed and moved his arm” inside the garage, prompting paramedics to take him to the hospital.
Sproul regained consciousness and was initially taken to Lawrence General Hospital, but was later airlifted to Boston Medical Center for treatment for severe head trauma. Clark did not have an update on his condition Saturday, but did say his injuries were not life-threatening.
According to Clark, Almon was fixing the tire on an industrial tire changer, a machine used to dismount and mount automobile tires. Sproul had come into the auto center and asked Almon to have a tire be mounted onto a specific rim of his vehicle. As Almon leaned over the tire changer and attempted to mount the tire, the tire and rim exploded and hit him in the head. The tire and rim did not explode into pieces; rather, both exploded as a whole.
“This was something [tire technicians] do everyday,” Clark said. “The inflation may have been too much, but that’s all we know. We’re still investigating what happened.”
Salem Fire Department Captain Jon Brackett has been with the department for 17 years, but cannot remember an incident similar to Saturday’s occurring during his tenure.
“They used to be a lot more frequent, but I haven’t seen one in quite some time,” Brackett said of tire explosions. “I worked with another department before Salem, and I remember responding to one about 20 years ago. But it’s been a long time.”
Sears Auto closed for the rest the day, according to Clark, who said all the employees who were at work at the time of the accident were “pretty shaken up” by the horrific nature of their colleague’s death.
“For a regular person who doesn’t see that happen, it’s pretty traumatic,” Clark said. “Even for the first responders who show up … even if you see it on a regular basis, it’s still, especially this time of year [with the holidays]. It’s traumatic for us to see this happen to such a young kid.”
The fatal accident is being investigated by Salem police and Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
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