Middlemount forklift fatality: Man charged over Joe Williams death

A man killed in a bizarre forklift incident filmed the horror ordeal on a mobile phone police seized in their investigation. Now a man has been charged.

A man has been charged over the death of a Brisbane father in a forklift misadventure in Middlemount.

Joe Williams was killed when a forklift he and another man were on flipped on its side on Blackbutt St in the mining town about 3.20am on July 24.

It is understood a vertical bar pinned Mr Williams by his ankle under the machine. He died at the scene.

Mackay Forensic Crash Unit investigators recovered Mr Williams’ mobile phone and found video footage of the incident.

FCU Senior Constable Michael Parker said a 42-year-old man had been charged and issued a notice to appear in court next month.

“The charges are stemming from examination of (Mr Williams’) mobile phone which recorded the movements of the forklift immediately prior to the incident,” Senior-Constable Parker said.

Mr Williams was a fly in-fly out worker on a seven-day roster as a site manager for a fire suppression business working in Middlemount.

The 35-year-old was remembered as a car fanatic and fun loving larrikin, and was to become a first-time father with his long-term partner Casey Watters.

The pair was to be married this year.

Joe Williams Photo Supplied

The 42-year-old man has been charged with drive without due care causing death, using a vehicle outside its conditional registration, consume liquor while driving, and driving a vehicle with a passenger in part of a vehicle not designed for the carriage of passengers.

The pair was allegedly driving the machine from a workplace headed for a nearby football field.

The man is to appear in Mackay Magistrates Court in October.