Fatal Sunset Park Construction Accident Was Manslaughter, DA Says

SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN — A fatal construction accident in Sunset Park last year was actually the result of shady builders who cut corners and ignored months of dangerous red flags to make more money, the district attorney announced.

Six people involved in a factory development on 39th Street where one of their workers, Luis Almonte Sanchez, was crushed by thousands of pounds of debris were arrested Thursday for the shortcuts that eventually led to his death.

"I want to be clear — this was no mistake, this is a crime" Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said at a press conference Thursday. "They were willing to ignore the safety of their workers to advance how quickly they could get the job done and how much money they could make."

(Anna Quinn/Patch.)

Three of the people involved with the company, WSC Group, were charged with manslaughter, including the head of the company, Jiaxi "Jimmy" Liu, the site's foreperson Wilson Garcia and its engineer Paul Bailey, who was supposed to ensure the site was safe for workers.

Gonzalez said that Liu already had a shady past, including a conviction years earlier for bribing a Department of Buildings inspector. He slightly changed the name of his company and had his brother take over as a "straw owner" so that he could keep doing work in the city, Gonzalez said.

The builders got plans to knock down the one-story building at 714 39th St. to build a new four-story manufacturing facility approved by the city, but ended up not following any of them, Gonzalez said.

Instead, they started excavating for a nine-story underground parking garage "recklessly," ignoring complaints from workers who said a wall on the site looked like it was moving forward and a neighbor who told Liu and Garcia that the excavation was causing her garage and patio to cave in.

The wall workers complained about would end up collapsing days later on Sept. 12, crushing Sanchez with 15,000 to 45,000 pounds of force as he and other worked in the pouring rain, Gonzalez said.

"He was buried under that [concrete slab]," Gonzalez said. "There was another worker in the pit able to thankfully scramble away before it fell down, but Mr. Sanchez was, we believe, killed instantly."

(Anna Quinn/Patch.)

Sanchez, 47, was an immigrant from the Dominican Republic "just trying to provide for his family," Gonzalez said. He added that he was not properly trained to work on the site, but that the building company took advantage of his need for a job.

"He never had a chance in these conditions," Gonzalez said.

Two others involved with the company, including one person who used to work at the Department of Buildings, were charged with lesser crimes including criminally-negligent homicide and reckless endangerment. The company's bookkeeper was also charged with financial crimes, prosecutors said.

Investigators also found out that WSC committed nearly $75,000 worst of tax and insurance fraud and were the same people involved in another dangerous construction project in Bay Ridge, where they kept working even when a stop-work order was issued by DOB.

Department of Buildings Commissioner Melanie La Rocca said the department has swept all projects associated with those arrested and "issued additional enforcement actions for site safety conditions where appropriate."

Liu, Garcia and Bailey could face up to 15 years in prison while those charged with lesser crimes might get a few years each, Gonzalez said.

"I would not bet against them going to jail," Gonzalez said.