A newly released police report is shedding more light on what happened the day a construction worker fell to his death in downtown Atlanta last week.
At around 10:36 a.m. on Thursday, police were called to 327 Mitchell Street SW, an apartment building development that sits over The Gulch and is part of a project from Centennial Yards.
The victim, identified as 20-year-old Lauinier Bonilla, was working on the 19th floor when at least one witness saw him fall. The report said Bonilla wasn’t wearing personal protective equipment, including a safety harness.
Law enforcement later found safety glasses and a hard hat scattered on the ground.
Bonilla “succumbed to injuries consistent with falling from a significant height,” the report said. His body was removed from the scene by the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The man’s employer said he would report the incident to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), according to the report.
Bonilla was employed by a subcontractor working for the CIM Group. Atlanta News First is working with a spokesperson at the CIM Group to get more details on what happened and what safety protocols were in place at the time of the accident.
According to Bonilla’s family, he was only on the job for two weeks. They said the subcontractor is paying to return his body to his home country of Honduras
Meanwhile, a video shared by another coworker shows workers leaving donations in a collection box set up inside the building to help the family cover funeral expenses.
“Because of the gusts of wind and the lack of safety equipment, a tragedy happened,” Nestor Ramirez, one of Bonilla’s coworkers, said. “The wind knocked him down off the ladder and he fell from the 19th floor.”
The developer of the high rise, CIM Group, shared the following statement: “Our heartfelt condolences are with all those who are affected and..Read More
