MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. — A Merritt Island hospital job site was deemed safe for workers to continue by site supervisors shortly before a strong storm knocked over a crane, killing two workers back in June, a lawsuit claimed.
The lawsuit by the driver of the semi-truck crushed by the crane, Roy Yeager, said he arrived at the site in the late morning and was scheduled to be unloaded within two hours. He said it was at least his ninth load at the site.
Yeager said the workers were told to keep working as conditions worsened. He remained in the driver’s seat of his truck but was thrown from the truck when the crane came down.
“We are committed to holding the entities that contributed to this tragedy accountable for their negligence and seeking justice for our client,” Morgan & Morgan founder John Morgan and attorney Richard Russo, who represents Yeager, said in a joint statement.
The claim, if true, provides some clarity to one of the major questions that lingered after the June collapse. It was not known if the site was in the process of shutting down for safety or if operations continued as the area was caught off-guard.
Deputies said the two workers who died were 34-year-old Isael Martinez of Haines City and 57-year-old Hector Pozos of Kissimmee. They were pouring a concrete column when the crane collapsed on top of them.
Neither victim’s family has filed a lawsuit, though it would still be relatively early for one to be filed, timewise. An OSHA investigation into the collapse is still underway.
Yeager’s lawsuit asks the judge to award at least $50,000 in damages.
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