The Bronx district attorney charged three contractors with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide for the 2019 death of a construction worker who was crushed by debris at a construction site.
Segundo Manuel Huerta Mayancela was buried under cinderblocks and sheet metal after a poorly secured construction area at 94 East 208th St. collapsed. Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark and New York City Department of Investigation Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber announced Wednesday that three contractors involved in the site failed to ensure basic safety protocols and allowed for dangerous conditions at the site of the eight-story building.
"The construction site ... was a deathtrap waiting to happen," Clark said in a statement. "An unqualified company allegedly used fraudulent credentials, ignored oversight requirements and building code, and built a dangerously unstable structure."
Augustine Adesanmi, owner of Favored Design and Construction, was charged with second-degree manslaughter, according to the DA's office. He and Akhlak Choudhary, owner of Pioneer General Construction; and Abazi Okoro, owner of Linzi Construction, were charged with criminally negligent homicide, among other charges. The case is the first of its kind in the Bronx, according to the DA's office.
Prosecutors say the defendants lied to get building permits and forged an insurance policy for the site. All three have pleaded "not guilty." Officials say a fourth man, charged with fraud, has not yet been found.
Attorney information for the defendants was not immediately available.
