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A Google street view image shows 1525 Cortland Ave. in San Francisco where two workers were crushed by a slab of granite in 2014. The company’s owner, Meng Peng, 66, was charged Thursday with felony involuntary manslaughter in the workers’ death.
SF granite company owner charged in on-job deaths of 2 workers
By Evan Sernoffsky
Updated 10:25 pm, Thursday, July 14, 2016
The owner of a San Francisco granite company was charged Thursday with two counts of felony involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of two workers crushed by a large slab of the heavy rock while on the job.
Meng Peng, 66, the owner of Galaxy Granite Inc., and two workers were unloading the heavy slab from a container truck at his shop at 1525 Cortland Ave. on the morning of Feb. 7, 2014, when it fell and crushed the employees, officials said.
The workers, Hector Vazquez, 46, of Oakland and Philip Marich, 53, of South San Francisco, were both killed.
Peng, who lives in Hillsborough, was arrested Monday and released after posting $600,000 bail.
He was charged with the two felony counts along with three labor code violations for failing to assess the hazards of moving the granite, along with failing to properly train his employees, prosecutors said.
“Employers cannot simply send their workers into hazardous work conditions untrained and without the appropriate equipment,” San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement Thursday.
He added that “California employers must vigilantly assess employees’ conditions and work methods when requiring their workers to engage in dangerous tasks.”
At the time of the fatal incident, Peng told The Chronicle that one of the victims insisted he could handle the slab on his own before it toppled over and trapped the men. He said the workers “were like my brothers” and that “it’s breaking my heart.”
Peng is due in San Francisco Superior Court at 1:30 p.m. Friday for arraignment.