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Tuesday he did a shift at the Lynnterm Terminal in North Vancouver, came home and plopped down in his favourite chair. After suffering a heart attack, he died early Tuesday evening. He was 58.

“It looked as though he was just watching a South Park DVD, resting,” said his partner, Susanne Tabata. “It happened early last evening when I was out running an errand. I just talked to him before I left.”

Photo by Don Denton / PROVINCE

Rampage had recently returned to work after breaking his hip when he was hit by a forklift. It was his second nasty accident at work — a couple of decades ago his leg was crushed when a co-worker driving a forklift knocked a roll of paper onto him.

“You want to talk about getting slayed by the press — I got run over by a 7,000-pound roll of newsprint,” he said in 2008. “It was a great day. It was like, ‘All right, I got an early day, I’ve got a $1,500 cheque in my pocket, let’s go party!’ Next thing I wake up I’m looking at the ceiling and I look down at my leg and it’s twisted around one-and-a-half times, not just upside down. Bones poking out here and there.”

His co-worker thought he had killed Rampage, so he parked the forklift and left, not wanting to get into trouble. Fortunately, Rampage had a cellphone. But when the 911 operator heard his deep croak of a voice, they thought it was a prank call.

“And they hung up on me,” said Rampage. “They told me, ‘This isn’t a joke, sir, this is not a joke. Don’t phone us!’ And they hung up on me.”

The second time he called they believed him and sent help. But the accident left him in constant pain.