San Francisco contractor and three employees charged with manslaughter over 2023 trench death

District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announced the case on Oct. 19. The company, its designated site safety representative, the project manager and the crew foreman each face an involuntary manslaughter count plus four counts under California Labor Code section 6425(a), which covers safety violations that kill a worker. The company and two of the men have pleaded not guilty. When the charges were announced, the project manager had not yet surrendered, and Jenkins said her office was working with his lawyer, KQED reported.

According to court documents cited by prosecutors, Javier Romero was working on Sept. 28, 2023, in a trench 2.5 feet wide, 5 feet long and 8 feet deep, on a sewer tunnel rehabilitation job for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. A vehicle drove past and the walls gave way. He died of mechanical asphyxia. A Cal/OSHA inspector found that the two short sides of the trench had no support at all and the long sides only partial support. Prosecutors say the firm drew a complaint about a poorly supported trench on another job less than three weeks earlier. Cal/OSHA fined the company $371,100 in 2024.

A judge released the two arraigned men on conditions: surrender their passports, stay in California, supervise no employees and hold no safety role on a jobsite, and keep away from witnesses and each other. The company faces up to $1.5 million in criminal fines and possible limits on future government contracts, said Matt McCarthy, who heads the DA's white collar crime division. A preliminary hearing is set for Nov. 14. The charges are allegations, and the investigation remains open.