Crane Operator Faces Involuntary Manslaughter Charges in 2014 Accident
January 4, 2017 - The Sacramento Bee reports that a crane operator is facing involuntary manslaughter charges in a 2014 incident in which his son and another construction worker fell to their deaths from above a bridge construction site.
Mark Powell operated the crane that lifted the basket carrying his son and operator Marcus Zane Powell and pile driver Glenn Allen Hodgson on May 30, 2014, according to Cal-OSHA.
The personnel basket they were in broke free from the crane and fell eight stories, killing both men. Powell was arraigned in Yolo Superior Court on the charges Dec. 21 and is scheduled to return to the courtroom Feb. 28 for a trial-setting conference.
Yolo County district attorney’s prosecutors filed the manslaughter allegations against Mark Powell as well as two felony counts of violating occupational safety or health standards causing death in a 14-page complaint in April, and Powell was held to answer to the charges on Dec. 6, according to Yolo County District Attorney’s Office.
Powell was one of three supervisors on the site of the new Winters Road Bridge being built by Burlingame-based Disney Construction. The Powells and Hodgson were part of a crew repairing a crane that was being used as a drill rig at the site of the bridge, which spans Putah Creek and connects Yolo and Solano County.
