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July 23, 2025 — A pattern is emerging inside Stellantis’s shrinking footprint. Three workers have died on the job in the Detroit area in less than two years, and every death occurred in a building the automaker was actively emptying, idling, or converting. The most recent victim, 57-year-old UAW Local 1248 member Ronald Brasher, fell 25 feet from a second-story loading bay door at the company’s Mopar National Parts Distribution Center in Center Line, Michigan, on August 1, 2025. He was clearing out decommissioned office equipment when he struck a dumpster below and died instantly.
The common thread running through these tragedies is not a failing assembly line or a malfunctioning robot. It’s a gap in safety culture that widens when a company turns its attention away from a building and toward the next consolidation target.
Brasher was wearing a fall-protection harness at the time of the accident. It was not attached to a tether. Michigan’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA) opened a formal investigation, and Stellantis has said it is cooperating. UAW President Shawn Fain and Vice President Rich Boyer have demanded a full accounting. But the fundamental question remains: why did a worker have a harness but not use it?
Fall protection has been the most frequently cited OSHA violation in American workplaces for over a decade. The problem is rarely a lack of equipment. It’s a lack of discipline. On routine tasks — like throwing old office chairs through a loading door on a Saturday morning — workers often skip clipping in. Supervisors fail to enforce the rule. The result is a preventable death.
Brasher’s death is the third Stellantis-connected fatality since August 2024. In April 2025, 63-year-old Ronald Adams died while making repairs at the Dundee Engine Plant, which was idled and undergoing renovation. In August 2024, 53-year-old Antonio Gaston died at the Toledo Assembly Complex, where Jeep Gladiators and Wranglers are built. All three cases share a common denominator: the work was taking place in a building that was not in full production mode.
According to MIOSHA data, Brasher’s death is at least the 24th workplace fatality in Michigan in 2025. The state recorded 46 for all of 2024. These numbers suggest that the most dangerous work in the auto industry is no longer on the assembly line, with its safety engineers and machine guarding. It is happening in the buildings being mothballed, sold, or converted — staffed by hourly workers who once built or shipped parts there, not by specialized demolition contractors trained in fall-protection discipline.
The Center Line facility where Brasher died was not a thriving distribution center. Stellantis relocated its Mopar administrative staff to Auburn Hills years ago, leaving the office space vacant. The company no longer even owns the property. More than a year ago, Stellantis sold the facility and now operates it under a sale-leaseback arrangement — a financing tool that separates ownership from operation. The landlord owns the structure; Stellantis operates inside it. In a half-decommissioned wing like the old admin offices, neither party has a strong incentive to invest in permanent safety infrastructure for space that is soon to be abandoned.
The company is also building a new Metro Detroit Megahub in Van Buren Township to absorb operations from sites like Center Line. Brasher was not upgrading the building — he was cleaning it out on its way to being phased out.
This pattern is not unique to Stellantis. As automakers consolidate plants and distribution networks amid fluctuating EV investments, half-empty buildings are becoming more common. Stellantis posted a $26.3 billion loss in 2024 before returning to profitability under its FaSTLAne 2030 plan, a turnaround strategy built on shedding underperforming brands and consolidating operations. Consolidation sounds abstract in an earnings report, but on the ground it means more buildings sitting half-full, more cleanout work assigned to whoever is available, and more moments
