Three charged with involuntary manslaughter, safety violations after 2023 San Francisco trench death
Three employees of a San Francisco construction firm have been charged with involuntary manslaughter and violating safety standards over a 2023 trench collapse which killed a worker.
Site safety representative John D’Arcy, project manager William Tobin and foreman Filiberto Poblano each face the same charges as a result of the September 2023 incident.
Contractor Darcy and Harty Construction Inc is charged as a corporation with the same offenses.
The collapse, which occurred during a sewer rehabilitation project at Oak and Divisadero streets, killed 25-year-old laborer Javier Romero. He was buried for over two hours before rescuers could reach him. The Medical Examiner determined that he died of mechanical asphyxia.
One of the charged trio, Filiberto Poblano, was arrested October 7, less than a month after an arrest warrant was authorized by a local judge.
D’Arcy and Tobin have yet to appear on the court docket.
State officials, who determined that an eight-foot-deep trench had not been properly shored up, cited the company for eight violations and proposed penalties of $371,100 in 2024.
An arrest warrant affidavit describes the arrival of San Francisco Fire Department on scene just after 10:30am on September 28 2023.
“SFFD Fire Captain M arrived on scene and immediately confirmed with witnesses that Romero had been observed in the excavation at the time of the collapse,” wrote district attorney’s investigator Craig Vreeland in an arrest warrant affidavit, describing the immediate aftermath of the incident.
“Witnesses told Captain M that Romero had not been seen in 20 minutes. Based on the witness’s timeline of Romero being buried in the excavation for 20 minutes, Captain M determined that it was ‘highly probable’ that Romero was deceased and, for safety reasons, ordered the recuers out of the trench.”
According to court documents, Romero’s body was recovered more than two hours later after a city ‘vacuum truck’ arrived and removed much of the sand covering him.
Investigators interviewed the city construction inspector who arrived on scene the afternoon of the day of the incident.
“[She] said she noticed that workers were still working in a similar improperly shored up trench as close as 25 feet from the collapsed trench,” wrote Vreeland of the interview.
“[She] told D’Arcy to order everyone out of the trenches which he agreed to do. [She] said the contractor using scraps of plywood to shore the excavation was not what is required. [She] said, in her opinion, it’s not considered protecting workers.”
“[She] said D’Arcy and Harty did not follow the shoring plan that was submitted to the city [and] said the shoring plan showed a much larger excavation and 1/8-inch-thick plywood and I-beams were to be used. The trenches were much smaller than the submitted plans.”
[She] said, if the contractor used the 1/8-inch-thick plywood and I-beams in these three-foot small trenches, there would be no room for the worker to work. Had she known they were doing ‘services’ and then looking at the actual size of the trenches, she would have rejected the project. [She] said D’Arcy and Harty had been issued citations by Cal/OSHA for improper excavation support on another project less than a month earlier.”
“She then said prior to this incident, she would see a fair amount of contractors who were bidding low with the expectation that they would ‘cut corners on shoring,’ or the amount of barricades they would use or , however they can, ‘squeeze a cost because that puts more money in their pockets’.”
At a hearing on the day of his arrest Poblano pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter and four labor code violations. He will next appear on October 14 for a preliminary hearing, at which a judge will determine if the evidence is sufficient to send the case to trial.
The case continues.
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