A Watkins man died Wednesday after he was pinned under a semi-truck he was repairing.
Joseph Edwin Pauly, 54, was working on the semi-truck at a residence on Kramer Road in Luxemburg Township, about three miles northwest of Watkins, when a hydraulic bottle jack that was holding up the axle slipped out from under the truck and fell on him.
The Stearns County Sheriff's Office said Pauly had removed a wheel and gotten under the truck when it slipped off the jack, pinning him. Family members discovered the accident just after 5 p.m. and called 9-1-1.
Pauly was dead when emergency crews arrived. Responding agencies were the Watkins Fire Department, Watkins Ambulance and LifeLink Air Ambulance.
