6 people, 3 companies facing slew of charges in construction worker's death

Several people and three companies are now facing charges in connection to a construction worker's death at a Sunset Park excavation site.

News 12 Staff

Nov 21, 2019, 10:32 PM

Updated 1,848 days ago

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Several people and three companies are now facing charges in connection to a construction worker's death at a Sunset Park excavation site.
News 12 first reported the tragic incident that happened on Sept. 12, 2018. A wall collapsed at an excavation site, killing 47-year-old Luis Almonte Sanchez.
Almonte Sanchez was buried under thousands of pounds of debris. Now, six people and three companies are facing charges.
Jiaxi or Jimmy Liu, the construction company's operator who allegedly bribed a Department of Buildings inspector years earlier, is being charged with second-degree manslaughter along with the foreperson, Wilson Garcia, and engineer Paul Bailey.
Paul Bailey is a registered engineer and part of his role and what they were allegedly paying him for was to conduct regular inspection. They say he had an affirmative obligation to report safety issues. The indictment alleges that Liu and his team received repeated warnings of dangerous conditions at the site from both workers and nearby property owners.
However, despite all of the warnings, the job allegedly continued.
Also arrested were Jia Rong or Tommy Liu, Siu Wah Maria Cheung-Mui, and Cindy Chai. According to the district attorney's office, these individuals played fast and loose with safety protocols and took shortcuts to increase profit margins.
They are facing charges such as criminally negligent homicide, second-degree reckless endangerment, insurance and tax fraud, and other charges.
Some of these defendants could now be facing 15 years behind bars.