Pa. Crews Rescue Worker Pinned in Parking Garage

A worker was injured at Latrobe's downtown parking garage renovation project Wednesday morning when he became entrapped inside a construction vehicle that fell through the floor and became wedged between the basement and first floor, Latrobe police said.

The construction worker, a Brownsville man whose identity was not released, was flown from Excela Health Latrobe Hospital to UMPC Presbyterian in Pittsburgh, said Latrobe Detective John Sleasman.

The extent of his injuries were not known, but police said the construction worker was moving his arms and legs when he was taken from the scene by a Mutual Aid Ambulance.

The accident occurred at about 11:15 a.m. as the worker was operating a skid loader that was carrying a jackhammer inside the garage, located between Weldon and Spring streets. The jackhammer, which is being used to break the concrete floor, was not in operation when it fell through, Sleasman said.

Trapped by concrete, debris and a safety bar inside the cab, the man could not move his legs, Sleasman said.

It took emergency responders, Latrobe firefighters and construction workers about 20 minutes to free the victim. The rescue was difficult because of the instability of the garage, which is undergoing a $2.9 million renovation. Rescuers had to stabilize the concrete floor with support rods and use steel wire rope, a come-along and cribbing to prevent the skid loader from moving during the rescue, Sleasman said.

A rear window on the skid loader was removed to allow a paramedic to give the man first aid, Sleasman said. He was carried out on a backboard.

"We could not just grab him and pull him out. Once we got him out, the skid loader started to move," Sleasman said.

The accident was so loud that "you could hear the whole building shake," said Marlene Gibb of Latrobe, who was cleaning the White Eagles on Weldon Street when the accident occurred.

The construction worker is employed by a subcontractor working on the renovation project at the garage, which closed in July 2010 after a slab of concrete fell in the four-level stucture. Police did not identify the subcontractor.

A spokesman for Carl Walker Construction Group of Robinson, the general contractor on the project, declined to comment yesterday. A supervisor at the garage also declined to comment.

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration in Pittsburgh is investigating the accident, said Chris Robinson, an agency spokesman. Robinson had no details about the accident.

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