A contractor in New York was sentenced to a possible 10 1/2 years in prison Wednesday for manslaughter in connection with the deaths of five construction workers.
Phillip V. Minucci, 32, of Commack, N.Y., was the head of Tri State Scaffold and Equipment Supplies. He was in charge of erecting 13 floors of scaffolding on a project, but cut corners in its installation to save about $3,000. In 2001 the scaffold Minucci installed on Park Avenue collapsed, killing the workers on it. The structure was holding three times its capacity when it fell.
Minucci plead guilty, stating he knew the scaffolding could not support enough weight. “I am deeply sorry for the families who lost loved ones and those who were injured because of my actions,” Minucci told the Associated Press. “I’ll have to live with this the rest of my life.”
