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Kent Reporter
South King County

Kent Boeing employee's death a suicide, medical examiner rules


Nov 19 2009

(Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect the man's job description.)

The death of a 50-year-old Boeing employee Nov. 18 at the Boeing plant in Kent has been ruled a suicide, according to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office. The agency released its findings Nov. 19.

Initial reports indicated the man, 50, died by way of a piece of machinery, according to a Kent Fire Department media release. He was authorized to be in the area and to use the machinery where the incident took place. He was a design engineer for Boeing's Space and Intelligence Systems division, said company spokeswoman Kimberlee Beers.

Firefighters from Kent and Tukwila responded at about 2 p.m. Nov. 18 to the plant near the corner of South 212th Street and the West Valley Highway.

Kent Police, the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries and the medical examiner’s office investigated the incident because of the unusual circumstances of the death and concluded that it was a suicide, said Lisa Price, spokeswoman for the Kent Police.

“There was no criminal aspect,” Price said in a phone interview Nov. 19.

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