A Rock Hill man who was working at the Lowe's Home Improvement store in South End was killed Saturday morning when he was struck in the head by a door in the warehouse area, according to a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police report.
Richard Thomas Yoost, 35, died when a garage door struck him, according to the report.
Police said Yoost was standing under the door when it fell on him. It was the first workplace fatality at the South Boulevard location, a company official said.
The incident happened about 10:30 a.m., according to police, and Yoost was taken by Medic to Carolinas Medical Center, where he died a short time later.
Julie Yenichek, a spokeswoman for Lowe's who was at the store answering reporters' questions Saturday, said no other employees or customers were involved.
The storage facility runs along South Boulevard and is across the parking lot from the store.
The store remained open following the incident, and it's unclear whether shoppers realized someone had been killed just a few feet away.
At one point, a police crime scene investigation van was parked outside the store.
On Sunday afternoon, a garage-style door to the storage facility was partially open, showing pieces of pine straw on the floor.
Caution tape surrounded a large section of the parking lot, and two employees had been posted just outside the restricted area.
Police homicide detectives were investigating, as were investigators from the N.C. Department of Labor, which enforces workplace safety.












