NORMANDY, Mo. – Harold Parker died cutting down a tree in Normandy’s Hoelzel Park this past January. He was doing a public works job that his children never dreamed would cost him his life.
“He was such a great guy. He had lots of kid, but they were all loved equally by him,” Parker’s daughter, Sky, told us days after losing their father, adding at the time, “He did what he needed to do to provide for his family.”
Parker’s former employer however, the city of Normandy, has not even reimbursed Parker’s family for the minimum funeral costs that attorney Crista Johnson told us is laid out by law.
“We have sent all of the receipts and bills to Normandy for this reimbursement,” she said. “We were told it shouldn’t be a problem back in March. That they should issue this right away. We are still yet to have any sort of reimbursement issued.”
Johnson also filed in March for the family’s workers’ compensation death benefits, in which she says only Parker’s minor children are eligible. She says that’s also been met with no response from Normandy.
“They expressed to the family how deeply grieved they were for the loss of this employee, but actions speak louder than words,” she said. “And if they were truly grieved, they would want to take care of this family.
“Normandy is not paying money out of their own personal coffers in this case, anyway. They are insured by an insurance company for this exact reason.”
Our series of FOX Files reports in the months since Parker’s death has exposed safety concerns surrounding the tragedy. We found most cities contract with private tree trimming companies with special training and insurance coverage, rather using public works employees like the city of Normandy did.
“It was 100% preventable,” Drew Brauner said.
Brauner has had decades of experience cutting down trees and he told us why he believed proper training would have prevented tragedy.
Brauner pointed out, “…multiple cut marks in the tree that let me know they were quickly unsure about what was going on, long before the tree came down. There were signs that they probably should have backed off.”
A Missouri Department of Labor investigation later determined that Normandy had only formally trained one employee on tree safety – and it was not Parker.
Yet those failures, attorney Johnson told us, are not enough to sue.
“The reality is,” Johnson said, “…that in states like Missouri that have workers compensation laws, your exclusive remedy under the law is going to be worker’s compensation benefits, with a few extreme exceptions. This case does not fall into those exceptions.”
FOX 2 paid a visit to Normandy, which resulted in the city manager saying he believed their insurance company had everything it needed from the city, but that he made a follow up phone call to make sure the process gets rolling.