Construction Company Owner, Manager recieve two years for Involuntary Manslaughter of Worker
SANTA CLARA COUNTY – A construction company owner and project manager were sentenced on Friday to 2 years in prison by the Honorable William J. Monahan for causing the 2012 cave-in death of a laborer in Milpitas.
After a two and a half month trial, a jury convicted 53-year-old CEO Richard Liu and 37-year-old project manager Dan Luo of U.S.-Sino Investment Inc. with involuntary manslaughter of a construction worker Raul Zapata Mercado, who had been working with the company for only two weeks before the tragic accident.
Family photo of Raul Zapata Mercado
“The death of Raul Zapata was no accident. This was a homicide in the workplace,” prosecutor Bud Porter said. “Justice has been served today because these defendants are criminally responsible for the death of another human being.”
The 39-year-old man was working on the hillside project, where a home was being built by the general contractor U.S.-Sino Investment Inc. of Fremont. The site collapsed and he was buried under a 12-foot high dirt wall that they had been digging in the area. He died before he could be removed from the dirt pile. However, this terrible accident could have been prevented if the management had stopped work as requested by a city building inspector who warned of the danger.
On January 25, 2012, after a recent downpour, a city building inspector gave a “Stop Work” notice to the project manager because of the danger of a cave-in of the unsupported dirt walls. but the work did not stop. Three days later, Zapata was crushed to death when several thousand pounds of dirt and rock fell on him.
After waiting three years the family can be awarded some form of justice for the loss of their father and husband. Zapata Mercado is survived by his wife and three children.
