June 12, 2008

Blood on the Hacks: Developer Charged With Manslaughter

The Brooklyn DA's office charged an East New York developer with manslaughter yesterday for a construction-related death on his property. (Photo is not of the site in question.) A worker died at William Lattarulo's construction site in March after earth and debris suffocated him. Lattarulo was the site's de facto contractor, supervising work and saving himself $90,000, according to the Times. The builder had been warned by other workers and a contractor that the deadly trench was unstable and “Essentially, his retort was, ‘Don’t worry about it,’ ” says Michael F. Vecchione, chief of the Brooklyn district attorney office’s rackets division. The DA's office says the charges against Lattarulo are unrelated to the recent crane accidents in Manhattan that've resulted calls for reform at the DOB. A lawyer for Lattarulo says the city is trying to assign blame to builders rather than examining its own shortcomings. "If the city put as much energy into inspecting the jobs properly as they do into rallying the support of the press and shifting liability off themselves, perhaps we wouldn’t be here today,” said the lawyer. “An architect designed the job. Engineers designed the job. Plans were filed.”
Manslaughter Charge in Trench Collapse [NY Times]
Photo by daltonrooney.

Posted by Gabby at 9:00 AM | Comments (10)
Categories: Construction Sites, DOB

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