FOWLER, Ind. (AP) _ State safety officials are investigating the death of a northwestern Indiana county highway department worker who was killed when a tire rim blew off a road grader.

The Benton County coroner says 45-year-old Stephen Etter of Oxford was working to repair a split tire rim on the vehicle when it flew off and struck the front of his body.

Coroner John Cox tells WLFI-TV (http://bit.ly/1p5jgVs ) that paramedics worked to revive Etter at the county highway garage in Fowler for about 40 minutes before he was pronounced dead Thursday.

Cox says Etter was a 14-year employee of the highway department in the county northwest of Lafayette. Officials from the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration are reviewing the circumstances of Etter's death.