Wenatchee Youth Circus performers dies

An 18-year-old East Wenatchee man died Saturday while setting up circus equipment at Wahluke High School, according to a Grant County Sheriff's report.

Shawn R. Thomas died at the scene when the cart he was helping to unload landed on his chest.

"It appears that Shawn was holding onto the cart's axle which was lined up at the back of the semi trailer and was lining it up to the ramps located at the rear of the trailer," a sheriff's office press release reported.

The 6-by-9-foot cart, weighing approximately two to three thousand pounds, was attached to a wire cable being held by a winch, and descended the ramps at a rate more than Thomas could hold back. Thomas apparently fell and was run over by the cart as it reached the bottom of the ramp, the press release stated. The cart's front axle came to rest on top of Thomas' chest, pinning him to the ground.

Thomas was working with the Wenatchee Youth Circus, setting up equipment for a show, when the accident occurred, at about 5:30 Saturday evening.

Witnesses at the scene were able to remove the cart off of Thomas and immediately started CPR, however, EMTs could not revive him. An autopsy is scheduled for today at the Forensics Institute in Moses Lake.

The incident is being investigated by the Grant County Sheriff's Office, Department of Labor and Industries and the Grant County Coroner's Office.

It was a request of the parents that the American Red Cross be contacted, as Thomas' brother is a member of the U.S. Army and is stationed in Iraq and should be notified of his brother's death.