BOSTON — The owner of the company involved in a deadly trench collapse in Boston appeared in court Thursday.
Atlantic Drain Services, Inc. and Kevin Otto, the owner of Atlantic Drain Service, is facing manslaughter charges.
"At no time during the excavation being done on Oct. 21, 2016, was any type of cave-in protection, either metal trench boxes or tongue-and-groove wooden planks, used in the trench," Assistant District Attorney Lynn Feigenbaum said in court.
Last fall, two Atlantic Drain Services workers, 53-year-old Kelvin Mattocks and 47-year-old Robert Higgins, died when a trench flooded and collapsed in the South End.
"It was horrible...I've never seen anything like that," Martha Colon, a woman who lives nearby where the trench collapsed, told FOX25 back in October. Colon said she heard the workers screaming for help outside her apartment as water rushed into the trench, trapping and killing Mattocks and Higgins.
Prosecutors say the company and Otto were careless with safety. FOX25 found dozens of OSHA violations against Atlantic Drain. Since 2007, they've been cited for 17 serious violations, six repeated violations and two willful violations. FOX25 also learned the company has tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid fines, which OSHA is trying to recoup through debt collections.
In court, prosecutors alleged that during the investigation, Otto and Atlantic Drain Serves provided doctored records to OSHA, purporting to be sign-in sheets for excavating and trenching trainings, as well as documents regarding the receipt by workers of personal protective equipment.
Atlantic Drain Services and Otto face were both indicted on two counts of manslaughter, one count of misleading an investigator under the state's witness intimidation statute, and six counts of concealing a record under the evidence tampering statute.
The trial is scheduled for Feb. 5 2018.
[ >> Owner of Atlantic Drain charged with manslaughter for employee deaths ]
[ >> Company's safety record raising questions after fatal trench collapse ]
[ >> 2 workers dead, company has history of OSHA violations ]