Dive Brief:
- Raul Zapata Mercado, 38, died in the collapse of a 12-foot trench wall on Jan. 28, 2012, and now his employer, the company's owner and project manager have been indicted on charges of involuntary manslaughter.
- Mercado was working on a home-building project for U.S. Sino Investment Inc. that had been twice issued stop-work orders after heavy rains made trench stability questionable.
- Dan Luo, 36, the project manager for the Fremont-based company, has been arraigned on the charge, but authorities have not found owner Richard Liu, 52, and think he may be in China.
Dive Insight:
The grand jury handed up the indictments last Friday. The Santa Clara district attorney, Jeff Rosen, issued a statement afterward in which he said, "Workplace safety is not an option. What happened to Raul Zapata Mercado was not an accident, it was a crime."