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ARVADA, Colo. (KDVR) — The City of Arvada announced Wednesday that Joe Herrin, an employee of the maintenance team, died tragically a week after the mower he was operating overturned into Birdland Lake, pinning him under water.

The accident happened on July 22 at Jack B. Tomlinson Park at 51st Ave. and Garrison St.

Herrin was taken to Lutheran Medical Center and admitted to the intensive care unit. He passed away on July 28.

“These have been painful and sad times for the City of Arvada, our team members and citizens,” said Arvada Mayor Marc Williams. “We are further saddened by the death of Joe Herrin, who was a valued member of our City team. We offer our sincere condolences to his wife and family, and his teammates and friends.” 

The City of Arvada said it has started a process to learn from the accident and help ensure it does not happen again.

The Arvada Police Department is conducting an accident investigation to determine what occurred during the accident, as is normal procedure. Once the accident investigation is completed, Arvada will begin an internal workplace safety assessment to identify steps to improve workplace safety and prevent similar accidents in the future.

The City of Arvada will compensate Herrin’s family with medical and lost-wage benefits, as a part of Colorado’s worker compensation system. Friends of the Herrin family have also launched a GoFundMe site to help Herrin’s family during this difficult time. The GoFundMe has already raised over $43,000.

A new post was added to the GoFundMe Wednesday morning:

“Joey Paul Herrin passed at 6:55am. He passed the kidney donor test with 8 minutes to spare. I held his hand until the very end because I made a promise to never leave his side. His heart valves, kidneys, tissue and corneas are in the process of being retrieved which will take hours. I will let everyone know when we are in the clear and if/when retrieval is successful. I feel so many emotions but mostly I’m grateful he died peacefully trying to save some lives. This isn’t the end of our story. Your spirit is in my heart always. I love you forever, Beeb. Thank you everyone who has reached out. If I don’t respond, I will be sleeping/crying for the foreseeable future but I still really like receiving the support.”

Erin Black, Joe Herrin’s wife