A construction worker named Jose Martins was killed after a wall in a building that was under construction collapsed and fell on him at a construction site near Rockaway Beach, Queens, on Tuesday, July 30, 2019.
The fatal construction accident occurred at 190 Beach 67 St. in the Queens neighborhood of Arverne. When emergency services arrived on the scene at around 2:15 p.m., they found the New Jersey native lying unconscious and rushed him to St. John’s Hospital, where he was sadly pronounced dead.
According to a spokesperson from the NYPD, Martins “tried to run away but was unsuccessful.” An investigation into the fatal accident is ongoing, and a medical examiner is working to determine the exact cause of death.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Jose Martins.
There are many potential causes of a wall collapse accident on a construction site, particularly when a building is unfinished. Without more information, it is impossible to say for sure, but a few possible causes of the fatal wall collapse that took Jose Martins life include:
- Lack of proper shoring, which could have left the wall structurally unsound and at risk of collapse
- A falling object accident, such as from a crane or scaffold, which could have generated enough force to knock the wall over
- A heavy machinery accident caused by operator error while using a machine such as a forklift or crane
- A flaw in the design of the building, stemming from the blueprint drawn up by the engineer or architect
- Unplanned design changes which were not approved by an engineer or architect
More information is necessary to determine who, if anybody, was responsible for this wall collapse accident. Such collapses are relatively uncommon, however, and generally the result of a mistake made somewhere in the design or construction of a building.
Investigators will likely try to work backwards from this collapse to determine why it occurred. Was there a mistake in the blueprints for the building, or were there areas where the actual construction deviated from how the building was originally designed? Was this wall adequately shored, or did somebody who was responsible for that task fail to do it properly?
Whatever the answers to these questions, we hope that the family of Jose Martins can come to some understanding about why this accident occurred, and who may have been responsible for allowing it to happen, even though it may not help them process the tremendous grief they must be feeling.
When somebody is killed in a construction accident, their family may be left with financial stressors on top of their grief, such as lost wages, medical bills, pain and suffering, and funeral expenses. These are not issues that anybody wants to deal with after the unexpected passing of a loved one, but unfortunately these are real problems that families are sometimes forced to face.
Compensation for these damages can be recovered with the help of an experienced construction accident attorney. The experienced wrongful death attorneys of Block O’Toole & Murphy have a record of successfully litigating fatal construction accident cases, such as in this $4,475,000 settlement after an ironworker was killed when the temporary flooring he was walking on collapsed.
If someone you love has been seriously injured or killed in a construction accident, call 212-736-5300 or fill out our contact form to receive a free legal consultation.