A 19-year-old construction worker in New York City has died after he was accidentally struck with a mobile hydraulic lift operated by his father, according to police.
The victim was identified by police as Ommatt Cruz, stating that he had been directing his father through the intersection Friday in the East Village at around 8:30 a.m., according to ABC7 NY. (RELATED: More Than 30 Workers Trapped As Road Tunnel Collapses In Landslide In India)
Cruz was attempting to guide his father driving the cherry picker onto a flatbed truck within the busy intersection at First Avenue and East 7th Street before reportedly being run over by the lift.
TRAGIC: A 19-year-old construction worker was fatally struck by a mobile hydraulic lift operated by his father, eyewitnesses say. https://t.co/mYTkw9SIUz
— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) November 17, 2023
“The driver of the crane, I guess he wasn’t hearing him well enough or he wasn’t paying attention and he hit the throttle too hard and the crane went too fast, killing the guy,” Troy Lorenzo, a witness to the collision, told NY1.
Authorities stated that Cruz was pronounced dead at the scene, suffering from severe head trauma to his body, according to ABC7 NY. (RELATED: Video Captures Worker Rappelling Hundreds Of Feet Off Crane After Suffering ‘Crushing’ Injury)
“The father was a few steps away… holding his head, probably being in shock, not really believing what happened. It was horrible,” Gosia Kaminska, another eyewitness, told ABC7 NY. “The people that were trying to save (his son) they covered him up with something. There was no way that you could help him.”
Although overall construction incidents have trended downward in the last several years, fatalities in 2022 hit the highest in three years, according to a report from the New York City Department of Buildings.
New York City Department of Buildings stated that construction fatalities within the city hit 11 last year, which was the most since 2019, as well as having recorded 554 injuries and a total of 751 recorded incidents.
Cruz’s 42-year-old father is currently being questioned by police while the accident remains under investigation, but no charges have been filed, according to ABC7 NY.