Man run over while overhauling bus at Chicago Heights junkyard

A man died after being run over by a bus he was overhauling Friday afternoon at a junkyard in south suburban Chicago Heights.

Officers responded at 2:17 p.m. to the incident at Wilkins Rebuilders Supply, 171 E. 12th St., according to Chicago Heights police and the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.

When they arrived, officers learned that an employee driving a front end loader started moving the bus without realizing that 18-year-old Arlen J. Bradley was working underneath it, police said. The loader’s operator then moved the bus forward, causing the rear wheels to run Bradley over.

Bradley was taken to Franciscan Health Chicago Heights, where he died at 2:47 p.m. Friday, authorities said. He lived in Cedar Lake, Indiana.

An autopsy conducted Saturday found that Bradley died from blunt force injuries to the head and torso, and his death was ruled an accident, the medical examiner’s office said.

Police reported the incident to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Anyone with information should call Chicago Heights detectives at (708) 756-6422.