Three arrested, company charged after employee’s steamroller death in San Francisco

Three L C General Engineering and Construction Inc. employees — including the company president and the business itself —  have been charged with an employee’s San Francisco workplace death.

District Attorney George Gascón announced that Ramiro Pena Pena, age 48 of Dublin; Michael Sommer, age 41 of Pacifica; Manuel Silao, age 59 of Richmond; and the company, were arrested on Aug. 28 related to the 2016 death of an employee who was run over by a steamroller operated by a fellow employee.

The four co-defendants have been charged with one felony count of involuntary manslaughter and three felony violations of the labor code, the district attorney said in a news release.

“When businesses ignore regulations designed to create safe workplaces, they put their employees and the community at risk,” Gascón said in a statement. “The stakes are high, and the volume of construction underway in San Francisco requires these companies to take the precautions necessary to mitigate the risk of injury.”

According to court documents, Sommer, the president of L C General Engineering and Construction, Inc.; Silao, a project manager; and Pena, a foreman, all contributed to permitting a worker, who was not qualified, to operate a heavy roller at the worksite. That employee had not previously operated a steamroller or received the proper training to do so, and was operating the machinery at the direction of his employer. The operator lost control of the roller and ran over the victim near the intersection of Vincente St. and 18th Ave.