Posted on 09/14/2004 4:46:06 AM PDT by Momaw Nadon
MERCED, Calif. - The deaths of two dairy workers who were asphyxiated by gases rising from a fetid stew of cow manure could have been prevented if the farmer responsible for their safety had given them the proper training and equipment, prosecutors said Monday during opening statements in a case against the farmer.
Patrick Joseph Faria, from the small farming town of Gustine, has been charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the 2001 deaths of Enrique Araisa and Jose Alatorre.
Prosecutors said Faria failed his workers in a number of ways, including failing to warn the employees of the manure pit's danger and to train them on how to enter. They also said he gave them no equipment, no protection, and no way to test the air.
In a brief response to the prosecution, defense attorney Kirk McCallister said that the incident was clearly a tragedy, but the question jurors were being asked to answer was whether a crime was committed.
McCallister said that when the two men fell into the pit, "Mr. Faria was about 90 miles away, driving to San Francisco airport."
Alatorre, 24, was the first to squeeze through a narrow opening of the 40-foot pit to unclog a pipe. From the pitch-black bottom, he yelled up to two other worker, saying the air wasn't good. He tried to climb out, but was overcome by the toxic gases, fell into the liquid waste and drowned.
The wastewater "was inside his nose. He gulped it. It was inside his lungs," said prosecutor Gloria Mas.
Araisa, 29, scrambled down to help Alatorre, but as he neared the bottom, he lost consciousness and fell.
"They both died of asphyxiation," said Mas, quickly flashing the gruesome images of the men's bodies on a large screen before the jurors.
Mas argued that Faria, who as a volunteer firefighter had been trained in the particular dangers posed by confined areas, knew that hydrogen sulfide, a gas frequently found in underground spaces, could be deadly.
The farm's Injury and Illness Prevention Plan specifically mentioned the manure pit as an area of concern and Faria as the safety manager on site, Mas said.
"Mr. Faria was supposed to protect these individuals, and he didn't," said Mas.
marking for a later read
Dumbass prosecutor
Farm work is among the most dangerous. This also happens in grain silos.
over here
This is very confusing. I've been around farming forever and have never heard of a manure pit. Possibly a dairy farm where they spray down the floors and the waste is washed into a holding tank? The journalist didn't exactly follow through on the details, again. From the incomplete story, I'm more inclined to let the farmer off of murder charges and go with employing illegal aliens.
I guess Faria should have taken these two with him or maybe found a sitter or day care center for them.
Oh, crap, what a way to go!
If manure is a murder weapon, Dan Rather could spend the rest of his days behind bars.
This is a tragedy but it's not like it hasn't happened in farm work before.
Had this happened in in Iowa or Minnesota do you think there would still be a prosecution?
Is it possible that because the "victims" were Hispanic and the farmer was Angelo and it's in California has anything to do with it?
Manure fatalities are always a possibility at a John F'n speech! :~)
You are probably right.
It's an open and sh!t case.
Nowhere in this story does it mention whether the two Mexicans were illegal, but if they were then the crime that was committed was hiring them in the first place.
Farm work is inherently dangerous. Any prosecutor who talks about "training" and "safety" doesn't know much about farm work, and probably lives in a city.
Farmers hire illegal workers because they're cheap. If farmers had to train and protect them there'd be no reason to hire them.
Illegals take dangerous work because they want some money, and sometimes they die. That's the facts of life, and city prosecutors won't change that until illegal immigration is halted.
No offense, but pits are quite common. Typically there is a 6 ft deep pit under the entire building. The floor of the building is slats made of concrete (sometimes another material, but ususally concrete) which allows the manure to fall into the pit.
If the pits aren't ventilated properly occasionally methane gas builds up. That's probably what these guys ran into when they went in to unclog the pipe.
My sons were trained at an early age to NEVER go into the pit without first checking for potential problems.
Several years ago there were 3 generations of a farm family who died in a pit. A little boy fell in, his dad went in after him,, they got into trouble, so the Grandpa went in after them. They were all lost.
Farming is the 2ed most dangerous profession, coal mining is the first. (I think I've got that right. Open to a correction if I'm wrong)
Sounds like he's in some deep doo doo.
Whoops. My bad.
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