Construction company, 3 project supervisors charged in SF trench collapse death: DA
SAN FRANCISCO -- A construction company and three project supervisors were charged in the death of an employee who was crushed when a trench collapsed in San Francisco in 2023, the District Attorney's Office said Monday.
Alameda County resident Javier Romero, 25, was killed after he became trapped under 8 feet of dirt when a trench collapsed in the area of Oak and Divisadero streets in San Francisco on Sept. 28, 2023. According to prosecutors, Romero was working on a sewer upgrade project in a 2.5-foot wide, 5-foot long, and 8-foot-deep trench that was not properly supported, and when a vehicle drove by, it collapsed.
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Romero worked for D'Arcy & Harty Construction Inc. and was part of a project for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, according to the District Attorney's Office.
Charged in his death with allegations of involuntary manslaughter and violations of safety standards are San Francisco residents John Darcy, 62, and John Tobin, 39, and Richmond resident Filiberto Poblano Perez, 52. D'Arcy & Harty Construction Inc. was also charged in connection with the death.
All three defendants and the company have pleaded not guilty.
Darcy was the site safety representative designated by the company and Tobin was the project manager. Poblano Perez was the crew foreman who directly supervised Romero, prosecutors said.
According to the District Attorney's Office, the state workplace safety inspector who reviewed the fatality concluded that the 8-foot-deep excavation in which Romero died was not properly supported.
The short sides of the trench facing Oak Street on one side and facing a building on the other side were completely unsupported, prosecutors allege. The long sides of the excavation running perpendicular to Oak Street were only partially supported.
D'Arcy & Harty Inc. had been the subject of a safety complaint about an inadequately supported trench on another project less than three weeks before the excavation collapse that killed Romero, according to prosecutors.
