Plumber Gets Probation in Trench Collapse that Killed Worker
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A Pennsylvania plumber who pleaded guilty to violating federal workplace regulations before a trench collapse that killed a man has been placed on probation for two years.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that 67-year-old Wayne George, of Hookstown, apologized in court Wednesday, saying he wishes he could have traded places with the worker who died.
Twenty-one-year-old Jacob Casher was helping install a sewer line when an 11-foot-deep trench collapsed in September 2015, killing him.
George said he ran into an unexpected conduit and stopped work, intending to bring cave-in protection equipment the next day, but Casher had climbed down into the trench without his knowledge.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Cynthia Reed Eddy cited his remorse, poor health and an $87,000 fine in sparing him jail time.
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