Milpitas: Company officials charged with involuntary manslaughter in worker's cave-in death

SAN JOSE -- A Fremont-based construction company, its owner and a project manager were indicted Monday on involuntary manslaughter charges in the cave-in death of a construction worker at a Milpitas building site in 2012, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office.

Raul Zapata Mercado, 38, was killed on Jan. 28, 2012, after he was buried alive when a 12-foot wall of dirt collapsed on top of him while he was working on a hillside home on Calaveras Ridge Drive in Milpitas. Zapata was working for Fremont-based general contractor U.S. Sino Investment Inc., at the time.

Three days earlier, a Milpitas building inspector had issued a "stop work" notice to the project manager at the site when he became concerned that cave-ins, just like the one that killed Zapata, could happen after several days of torrential rain; the project had no permit for excavation deeper than 5 feet.

Still, no one stopped working at the site.

"This case is about what happens when construction companies cut corners on safety," District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a news release. "Workplace safety is not an option. What happened to Raul Zapata Mercado was not an accident, it was a crime."

According to Keyvan Irannejad, Milpitas' chief building official, a company can only resume work at a construction site after the city is satisfied that all safety concerns have been addressed and remedied by the company.

"They completely ignored the stop work order," Irannejad said. "We actually had an inspector stop by there a second time randomly and he still saw people working, so he issued a second order. ... The city has the final say when people can go back to work."

Zapata's relatives were not immediately available for comment.

Dan Luo, 36, the project manager who was in charge at the site when Zapata was killed, was arraigned on Monday. A $1 million arrest warrant has also been issued for the company's owner and CEO, former Fremont resident Richard Liu, 52, who officials believe may be in China.

Investigation at a Milpitas luxury home site where a construction worker was killed when a wall of dirt collapsed on him. (Courtesy ABC7 News)

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Milpitas: Company officials charged with involuntary manslaughter in worker's cave-in death