TBI investigation of Erwin plastics plant finds no criminal wrongdoing in employee flooding deaths

Published 10:39 am Tuesday, July 22, 2025

By Cassandra Stephenson

Tennessee Lookout
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation found “no evidence of criminal wrongdoing” on the part of an East Tennessee plastics plant where six employees died in September floodwaters brought by Hurricane Helene.

Workers’ rights advocacy groups and family members of those killed on Sept. 27, 2024, have alleged that Impact Plastics in Erwin, Tennessee kept employees on the job site even as flash flood warnings began to roll out.

The company has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.

District Attorney General Steven Finney called for the TBI to investigate the allegations in the flood’s aftermath. Finney closed the case on July 18 without action, based on TBI’s conclusion that Impact Plastics owner Gerald O’Connor, other company supervisors and employees did not commit criminal wrongdoing, according to a news release.

The TBI investigation included a search warrant executed on the Impact Plastics facility, which lies in a floodplain near the Nolichucky River, and conducted interviews with 26 witnesses over the course of several months.

“Within these interviews, no evidence was established to substantiate the claim that the employees were told they were prohibited from leaving or threatened with termination for leaving as floodwater rose,” the release states.

The document also notes that other Impact Plastics employees were not interviewed “due to lack of cooperation or response.”

The TBI investigation found that O’Connor dismissed employees around 10:51 a.m., and floodwaters closed off evacuation paths around an hour later.

The investigation’s findings are similar to those of a Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration report issued in April. The workplace safety agency concluded that Impact Plastics “exercised reasonable diligence” and the deaths of Impact Plastics employees were not work-related because work had stopped and employees left the building before they died. The agency did not issue any citations following the inspection, though it did recommend that the business create a site-specific severe weather emergency plan.

Meanwhile, family members of Johnny Peterson, one of the employees killed in the flood, are moving forward with a wrongful death lawsuit against the company. Court filings detail texts Peterson sent to family members as he and other employees watched floodwaters rise in the industrial park and later struggled to leave the area.

The lawsuit contends that Impact Plastics management knew that the plant sat in a floodplain and chose to have employees report to work that day even though public buildings, schools in Unicoi County and other businesses in the industrial park were closed due to the storm.

Peterson, a father of four, was ultimately engulfed by rushing water along with other employees when a semi-trailer truck bed they clung to was overcome by water and debris. Five employees and one independent contractor were killed. Five other Impact Plastics employees were rescued by helicopter by the National Guard.

O’Connor and the company welcomed the TBI’s determination in a statement issued July 18.

“These past months, Impact Plastics and Mr. O’Connor have fully cooperated with the official agencies investigating the flood. The true and accurate facts are now known,” the statement reads, emphasizing that both the TBI and Tennessee OSHA found “company management exercised reasonable diligence in dismissing employees and providing them sufficient time to leave the facility safely.”

Reached for comment Monday, an attorney representing Peterson’s family declined to comment on the investigation’s outcome, citing the ongoing litigation.

Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. Follow Tennessee Lookout on Facebook and X.