A scaffolding firm and one of its foremen are facing charges three years after a construction incident that left a young woman with brain injuries.
The Brooklyn District Attorney charged Silvercup Scaffolding and foreman Zeke Fagan with misdemeanor reckless endangerment and criminal mischief, The City reported. Both defendants are due back in court next month.
For Silvercup, the potential consequences would include financial penalties. Fagan, however, could face up to a year in jail.
Following the indictment, an attorney representing both Silvercup and Fagan told the publication that the tragic incident was only an accident and that the case was an example of prosecutorial “overreach.”
The charges stem from an incident in 2019. High winds tore down scaffolding at a condo construction site at 243 Fourth Avenue in Park Slope, injuring three people in the open-air patio space below the Parlour Condominiums, smashing through a glass atrium.
Read more
Commercial
New York
Construction pipeline soars 69%: REBNY
Development
New York
Credentials faked on Hudson Yards tower, other projects: report
Commercial
New York
Barack Obama blasts liberal NIMBYs
Haley Keating, a 32-year-old CPA celebrating a promotion at the restaurant adjacent to the condo site, suffered severe brain injuries after the scaffolding fell 12 stories onto her. She still suffers seizures as a result of the incident.
The Keating family sued a host of defendants after the incident, to which their lawyer tied a slew of communications showing how many people were aware of the perilous state of the scaffolding.
Prosecutors allege a stucco company removed the ties holding the scaffolding in place two weeks before the tragedy to perform repairs. That company told the DA it immediately warned the general contractor’s construction superintendent that the scaffolding needed to be removed; prosecutors say it was never properly dismantled.
The developer, the covertly named 243 Development LLC, was cited for failing to notify the Department of Buildings about the incident. The LLC resolved the violation without paying a penalty.
Controversy unfolded after the developer hired Frank Carone as a lobbyist to resolve its issues; Carone is now the mayor’s chief of staff. Upon the indictment’s release, Carone said his role in representing the developer regarding the DOB violations was “very limited” and claimed not to be involved in the criminal investigation.
[The City] — Holden Walter-Warner