Family Claims Company Is Getting Away With Murder

Despite accepting a $1 million settlement for the death of their son in a crane collapse, one New York family says that the construction company who hired him is “getting away with murder.”

According to the New York Daily News, the parents of Michael Simermeyer have reached a $1 million settlement over the unexpected death of their son. Simermeyer was killed in a crane collapse last year at a construction site being managed by his employer, Yonkers Contracting. Under the terms of the settlement, the contractor will admit no wrongdoing in the incident but the deceased 30-year-old Simermeyer’s parents believe that’s not true.

Simermeyer was working at Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s No. 7 subway station on April 3 last year. He was killed when a tractor crane collapsed onto him, crushing him to death.

The man was working beneath the crane as it was lifting steel rebar into place. Cables holding the rebar to the crane allegedly snapped. The tractor crane collapsed and caused a roof deck to partially buckle. When that happened, concrete debris and steel from the crane poured onto Simermeyer, according to the Daily News report.

Federal Investigation

A federal investigation by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) into the incident revealed that the cable holding the rebar to the crane was badly frayed when it was used for that final job last April, and that its condition caused it to snap, the result being that horrific accident, the Daily News reports.

Yonkers Contracting received fines for its failure to properly inspect the tractor boom prior to the fatal collapse.