He was pronounced dead at Brookdale University Hospital. a charter school that is under construction in the Bronx borough of New York City around 8.15am on Wednesday when it dropped to the ground floor. A hardhat was killed when a 2,000-pound piece of equipment fell on him at a Brooklyn site Monday morning, cops and city officials said. The building, at 20 Bruckner Boulevard, was the scene for another fatal construction accident in December 2019 when a worker fell through an opening on the second floor and fell 20 feet, according to the Buildings Department. Pursuing criminal charges in response to construction-related fatalities sends an important message to the entire industry endangering the lives of workers and the public will not be tolerated. The Sunset Park construction site in May 2018Google Street View. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (each updated 1/26/2023). Construction has more work-related deaths than any other industry in New York City, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. Drugs are a suspected contributor in the crash. MORE:Worker Killed By Crane Counterweight Near Holland Tunnel, "He was a foreman. According to a 2013 report from theCenter for Construction Research and Training, elevators are responsible for about 27 deaths and 10,000 injuries per year in the United States. The road is closed as the . Construction worker Santiago Veles, 33, told the outlet that he was working on the first floor with another colleague when he heard the crash. / CBS New York. In total, 61 workers were killed on construction sites in the state in 2021, a 9 percent increase compared . It wasnt clear what type of work the man was doing at the building between West 72nd and West 73rd streets, cops said. February 8, 2011 2:02 pm. 'Your heart goes out to whoever's family this is. and last updated 8:39 AM, Mar 03, 2023. 11. Published: 02:30 GMT, 20 May 2021 | Updated: 11:32 GMT, 20 May 2021. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. The family joined thousands recently in St. Patrick's Cathedral to mourn the 16 workers who died in construction accidents this past year. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. MSP describes the Dodge driver as a 30-year-old man from Hartford. Yet, evidence presented by prosecutors found the site was not in compliance, and that both defendants failed to follow the design plans submitted and approved by the Department of Buildings. The two men, whose names were not revealed, were loading the the elevator on the top floor ofa charter school that is under construction in the Bronx borough of New York City around 8.15am on Wednesday when it dropped to the ground floor. John Ferrington, who delivers to the site, called the accident a 'terrible thing' in an interview with WABC. The worker, in his 50s, fell from 3rd-floor scaffolding outside the 45th Street building just after 1 p.m. Today is a difficult day for our Road Commission family, says Van Buren County Road Commission Acting Managing Director Linnea Rader. Not only was he a hard worker, he was just such a great guy he had the purest of hearts. Pogue Construction Company, of McKinney, confirmed the worker's death and said the accident involved a subcontractor's crane. BOROUGH PARK, Brooklyn (WABC) -- A construction worker fell to his death working at a building in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn on Thursday afternoon. Otoya lost her 66-year-old husband and father of their three sons in September; working on an Upper East Side construction site. These Valuable Pennies Are Worth Thousands. A construction worker plummeted four floors to his death at a landmarked building on the Upper West Side on Monday morning, police said. The comments below have not been moderated. WSC Group Inc, owned by Jiaxi Jimmy Liu, performed demolition, excavation and foundation work at the Sunset Park site between April and September 2018 removing a one-story industrial building to make way for a four-story manufacturing and community facility, including a new cellar approximately nine feet below the first-floor level. February 25, 2023 8:43pm. NBC New York's Marc Santia reports. MSP credits the Van Buren County Sheriffs Office, the Hartford Police and Fire departments, Pokagon Tribal and Lawrence police, and VBEMS for their assistance. in the Mott Haven section of the borough. A few days later, Gregory Echevarria, a 34-year-old man from Brooklyn, was killed in the early morning hours of April 13 at a site where he was working as a crane rigger. Right now, all workers are required to have is 10 hours of safety training. He is facing a maximum sentence of eight to 16 years in prison. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, 5-year-old rescued, mother dead after jumping 90 feet into Niagara Gorge, Person plunges from NYC building in apparent accidental fall: cops, Halle Berry takes hard fall onstage at charity event: I face planted, UK beautician may never walk again after falling in Thailand. From Texas Sky Ranger, it appears the crane's boom came down on top of the elementary school and the truck was pulled over onto its side. While that is fewer than the 13 in 2018, even one fatality is too many. The shooting was reported outside the Boulevard Houses on Stanley Avenue in East New York just . Born in Ecuador, Pilataxi worked for F & C Professional Aluminum and was a father of three children and three step-children, his 30-year-old stepson Jonathan Chicaiza told NJ Advance Media. The Bronx building previously was the home for a long-vacant ice factory called the Ruppert Ice House. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. A woman was shot an killed while working at a construction site in the Bronx by a gunman who allegedly rolled up to the scene on a bicycle before opening fire . Too many people crowded into elevators can cause it to get stuck. That is my worse fear when I step into an elevator. Hogan said a quarter of sites are not in compliance. Department of Building inspectors were on the scene. A woman is pictured speaking with NYPD Community Affairs officers on the scene, NYPD Community Affairs officers investigate the elevator, pictured, which fell four stories. I join all our employees and Board in mourning the loss of one of our own in a tragic accident. Ronnie Ortiz was killed in East New . The men fell, investigators believe, while they were installing steel beams in the elevator shaft on the fifth floor and one of the . Naveen Dhaliwal has more. Prosecutors also found that in the days preceding the collapse, Liu had allowed a trucking company to continue to remove truckloads of dirt during a heavy rainstorm, further destabilizing the site. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Brooklyn mom, 32, is shot dead at memorial service for her Bodycam captures moment cop single-handedly LIFTS overturned NY Gov. This incident is a painful reminder that cutting corners on a construction site and ignoring safety regulations can have dire consequences, New York City Department of Buildings Acting Commissioner Kazimir Vilenchik said in reaction to the convictions. The NYC Department of Buildings is investigating the accident and has ordered the construction work to stop. 'It was a one-time mistake, I don't know,' Tenesaca said. Copyright 2023 WABC-TV. A sign shows that work on the building was expected to be completed in 2018, Construction workers wait for word on their fellow workers as one person was killed and another critically injured when a freight elevator collapsed and fell several stories, The building, at 20 Bruckner Boulevard, was the scene for another fatal construction accident in December 2019, Buildings Department spokesman Andrew Rudansky told the New York Daily News that 'every worker who leaves for the job site in the morning deserves to come home safely at night.'. His body was not recovered until the following day due to unstable conditions at the site, which were worsened by significant rain. "We are catching counterfeit cards and we are issuing violations to the employers.". The operator of a Sunset Park construction company that ignored site safety concerns was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter after a worker was crushed in a wall collapse. He never had an accident. All rights reserved (About Us). The owner of Thanasi Electrical Company said 15 electricians were on site. A man who answered the phone at the Plainfield company on Tuesday declined to comment on Pilataxis death. Celina Mayor Sean Terry said another person suffered minor injuries in the collapse. The 46-year-old construction worker was standing at the. The construction site at 39th Street in Sunset Park following the wall collapse that killed Luis Almonte Sanchez. She said as she wiped away tears that the workers did not know much about the supervisor - describing him as tight-lipped about his personal life. Construction crews are working to convert the space into a campus for theK-12 Dream Charter School, and it become the school's main campus, WABC reported. The last elevator-related death to have happened in the Big Apple appears to have occurred on August 22, 2019 when a man was crushed to death while trying to exit the elevator car. The victim has since been identified as 58-year-old Rene Rangel from Dowagiac. Diego Lliguicota, 32, fell from a scaffold at 9:30 a.m. Saturday as he was trying to remove a . NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- One person died and another was injured when an elevator plunged down at a building under construction in the Bronx. Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. "Safety is our companys paramount concern, and we have a team on-site to assist in the investigation.". Police are still searching for the suspect who was described as wearing all black and a ski mask. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Chantee Lans has the story. A GoFundMe.com has been established to help the family with Pilataxis funeral expenses. Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group. The majority of elevator-related fatalities in construction, about 54%, were due to falls to a lower level like that on Wednesday in New York. The death of Luis Almonte was tragic and preventable. Work site injuries are up a staggering 221 percent in that same span. The Medical Examiner's office was seen removing a body from the building after the accident. He was a like the protector of our family, Chicaiza said. Medics rushed the man to Kings. All Rights Reserved. It was often referred to by its nickname as the 'History Channel Building' because the network had a massive sign on the roof that has since been replaced with an iHeartRadio billboard. Pilataxi, of Plainfield, landed on a second-floor terrace and was pronounced dead at the scene, the NYPD said in a statement. The general contractor KBE-NY has been fined $10,000 twice in the past six months for failure to maintain safety standards, according to BrooklynPaper.com. Based on the nature of the shooting, detectives are operating under the assumption he was targeted. One construction worker was killed and another was critically injured after a freight elevator plunged four stories while they were loading it. A Bronx construction worker was killed in a jobsite incident on Thursday morning, police reported.