A Connecticut contractor and equipment operator were sentenced this month to two years of probation for felony second-degree manslaughter related to a deadly trench collapse in 2022.
Dennis John Botticello, 70, owner of Botticello Inc. of Manchester, and Glen Locke, 68, who was operating an excavator for Botticello when the incident occurred, were sentenced to two years in jail, suspended for two years of probation May 16 in Rockville Superior Court.
Both men were arrested March 3, 2023, by the Vernon Police Department on charges of first-degree manslaughter and reckless endangerment. The charges were reduced in a plea deal with the Tolland Judicial District state’s attorney.
The charges followed the death of Dennis Slater, 56, who was in an 8-foot-deep, 135-foot-long trench July 22, 2022, guiding a 20-foot section of pipe into place at a residential development in Vernon when the walls collapsed. He later died at the hospital.
Botticello Inc. was cited by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration in 2023 with three violations – no cave-in protection, no safe way to exit the trench and no prior inspection of the trench before workers entered. OSHA also noted that Botticello had similar violations from 2015.
The company was initially fined $375,021, which was later reduced to $190,000 after Botticello appealed, according to OSHA online records.
Botticello and Locke pleaded guilty April 4 to second-degree manslaughter. The state’s attorney sought a sentence of 10 years in prison suspended after five years and then three years of probation. They were able to argue for the lesser sentence at their sentencing hearing May 16.
Slater’s widow did not seek a prison term and said in court that Botticello, Locke and Slater were best friends, according to CT Insider.
