NORTH KINGSTOWN — The Electric Boat worker who died July 1 at the Quonset Point submarine plant had left his hardhat in one end of a transport vehicle and tried to squeeze through the hangar door to retrieve it, a police report released Tuesday said.

The police report said Ritchie A. Morse, 31, had been moving a section of submarine with a transport device that has a cab on either end.

From the transporter’s front cab, Morse pulled the submarine section outside. It started to rain, so Morse used the rear cab to pull the submarine section back in and out of the weather. About 20 feet of the transporter remained outside the hangar doors, with about a foot of clearance between the door and the vehicle, the report said.

Morse realized he had forgotten his hardhat in the front cab, witnesses told the police. Unable to squeeze through the small space between the door and the transport, he pushed a button intending to open the door but instead hit the button to close it. The hangar door jerked closed, the report said, crushing his head against the transporter.

He was buried Monday in Quidnessett Memorial Cemetery, North Kingstown.

— Donita Naylor