TAR HEEL, N.C. (WECT) – A massive Bladen County pork processing plant recently paid more than $35,000 in federal penalties following an investigation into an employee death earlier this year, records show.
In January, 43-year-old Abundio Villa Miranda died at the Smithfield Foods plant in Tar Heel. Lisa Lanier, an attorney for his family, said he died after falling 25 feet into an area where gas is used to render pigs unconscious before they’re slaughtered.
“I’ve been doing this for 34 years, and have seen just about everything, just about every horrible thing you could see. It was shocking,” Lanier said. “The circumstances were horrific, and just unimaginable, really. Something out of a horror film.”…