YOUNGSTOWN Demolition work resumes at site where man died

The victim inexplicably ran toward the falling beam, the company owner said.
By ROGER G. SMITH
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Work resumed today at a downtown demolition site where an onlooker died over the weekend.
Little about the site is different since the accident except some extra plastic orange fencing and security tape.
The project will be under a little more scrutiny, said Carmen Conglose Jr., city deputy director of public works. The city will have an inspector at the site if work is near the sidewalks and streets, he said.
The city isn't required to monitor the private project and usually doesn't send inspectors to noncity contracted jobs.
Man died
A steel beam crushed Charles Thomas, 55, of Boardman Street, on Phelps Street just after noon Saturday.
The William Pizzuto Co. is tearing down an old parking garage on the site bordered by Front, Phelps, West Boardman and Hazel streets. A private company, Frangos Parking, owns the site. A crane operator was lifting a beam over the street to protect streetlight poles from falling demolition debris. The cables became stuck on a piece of wood, the beam fell and Thomas was hit.
Thomas inexplicably ran toward the falling beam instead of away from it, William Pizzuto, owner of the demolition company, said today.
Pizzuto reiterated that his workers told Thomas to leave the area several times before the accident -- and many times since the project started -- but the man kept coming back. Phelps was blocked off when the accident happened, Pizzuto said.
An inspector from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration was at the site earlier this week. An OSHA spokesman said the agency had no comment until the investigation is concluded. OSHA officials have said they weren't sure if the agency had any role since no workers were injured in the accident.
Conglose said he doesn't expect a report for four to five months. Pizzuto said he was told a report could be ready in as little as a week.
rgsmith@vindy.com