Man Killed At GM Auto Plant In Fight With Coworker
The two men worked for a custodial company contracted by the automaker to clean the Orion Assembly Plant
A brawl in the early hours of Thursday morning between workers at General Motors' Orion Assembly Plant in Lake Orion, Michigan, left one man dead and another in custody.
Oakland county sheriff Michael Bouchard released a statement about the fight on Twitter.
There was an altercation between coworkers at the GM Orion plant this morning. It resulted in the death of one victim and we have the suspect in custody. There is no active danger to the community or the plant.
— Mike Bouchard (@MikeJBouchard) August 11, 2022
Police were called to the plant around 1:40 a.m. Thursday due to the fight and found the 49-year-old man from Pontiac, Michigan, unconscious and bleeding in the dock area of the plant, according to the Detroit News:
Deputies found the victim unconscious and bleeding, according to authorities. They rendered aid to the man but were not able to revive him and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
They also found the suspect in the man's death standing in a dock area of the plant and not far from the victim's body.
Officials said deputies also recovered the item believed to have been used in the slaying.
Police continue to investigate what led to the incident.
Both the victim and the suspect worked for a custodial company contracted to clean the plant by GM. The victim had only worked for the company for a few months before his death. The suspect, also in his late forties, is being held at the Oakland County Jail awaiting possible homicide charges. Work at the plant, which builds the Chevy Bolt, has been canceled for the day. The Orion plant received $300 million in EV investments following the closure of the Lordstown GM plant.
Violence isn't common, but crime at auto plants is nothing new. Earlier this year, car thieves stole seven Camaros from GM's Lansing Grand River Assembly plant, leading police on a car chase across half the state of Michigan. Ford has also had quite a few vehicles stolen straight from its plants this year. In 2010, automakers had a scandal on their hands when auto workers were caught drinking and smoking weed on their lunch breaks.