Rescue workers and other onlooks peer into the
hole where Bynum died. (Inset photo: Friends and
hunting buddies put a wreath at the accident site).
Hunter dies in 4-wheeler accident
Local rescue workers called last week's fatal ATV accident one of the most unusual deaths they've ever seen.
Chris Bynum, 31, was driving across a freshly combined cornfield off Ky. 120 just east of Tribune last Thursday about 1 p.m., when his four-wheeler apparently hit a large tractor rut or the edge of a sink hole.
Bynum and his three-year-old son riding on the ATV were thrown clear of the bike, but Bynum ended up headfirst in a nearly six-foot deep sink hole which had washed out in the middle of the field.
Bynum, a popular radio personality known as Avis P on WLLE 94.7 FM radio station out of Paducah, was dead when rescue workers arrived.
His cousin, Jeff Beck, was riding on another ATV behind Bynum when the accident occurred. Beck had his two young boys, ages three and five, on the four-wheeler with him.
Bynum, a very large man who friends estimated at around 400 pounds, was wedged into the hole and Beck could not get him out. Beck called 911 on a cellular phone and later spoke with ambulance personnel directly by phone to help direct them to the scene.
Crittenden County Coroner Terry Gilbert said Bynum died from suffocation. He said the man's only physical injury was a broken jaw.
"It was the freakiest thing," Gilbert said. "He could have fallen 1,000 times and never hit that hole again like he did.
"His face was buried in mud at the bottom of the hole," the coroner said.
Crittenden County Rescue Squad Chief Donnie Arflack said the hole Bynum fell into was not noticeable until you were right up on it.
"You couldn't see it from 20 feet away," Arflack said. "It looked like it had just recently washed out, maybe after the field was combined."
Arflack, who has served on the rescue squad for the better part of two decades, said this was one of the most bizarre deaths he's ever seen.
"We've had some really weird things happen, but I think this one tops the list."
Bynum, his youngest of two sons, and Beck and his two sons were at the farm putting out food plots and scouting for deer. They are among a group of Marshall County men who have leased for hunting the 750-acre farm almost a dozen years. The land is owned by a Calvert City man.
Mark Hart, who also is a member of the hunting club, said Bynum was not driving fast across the field when the accident occurred.
"He was just putting along. We don't know if he threw his son free when the bike started tipping over or whether the boy was just thrown clear."
Hart said Beck was still very upset early this week and had been unable to remember exact details of the accident.
Hart and some other hunting buddies were not at the farm the day of the accident, but did go there and put a wreath and poem about Bynum at the site of the wreck.
"We want to personally thank the people of Crittenden County and the rescue personnel for their efforts," Hart said.
The hole that Bynum fell into was only about four feet at its widest point and less than six feet deep. However, some rescue workers say it appeared to have a "very loose" bottom. They said the mud was soft and wet and probably subject to further erosion.
Rescue workers said Bynum's size may have contributed to his hard fall and the pressure toward his head probably contributed to his suffocation.
Sink holes are common in many parts of Crittenden, but Bill Frazer, an amateur geologist who has studied earth formations here for many years, says it's quite unusual to encounter a fault in the area of the county where the accident occurred.
He said that most likely the hole was caused by disposition of sediments which causes the earth to crack, then water erodes the spot until it creates a crater. Most sink holes are in areas of the county where limestone deposits are heavy and not where the accident happened.
Bynum is survived by his wife and two children. He was buried in Calvert City Sunday. A few hundred people attended the funeral.