NEW YORK (AP) - The owner of a Brooklyn construction company has been charged with manslaughter in connection with a 2015 wall collapse that killed a worker and injured two others.
Michael Weiss pleaded not guilty to the charges Wednesday, which also include criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment.
Prosecutors say workers were replacing a single-story building with a five-story building in Bedford-Stuyvesant when Weiss ordered the workers to excavate an area that wasn’t approved by the Department of Buildings.
An adjacent wall eventually collapsed, killing 18-year-old Fernando Vanegaz and seriously injuring two other workers.
Prosecutors say Weiss refused to provide any material for shoring or underpinning the excavation and refused to listen to the safety concerns of the workers.
The 47-year-old Weiss owns the companies, RSBY NY Builders and Park Ave Builders Inc.
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