Crushed to death in marble warehouse
A WORKER at a wholesale marble warehouse was crushed to death while attempting to move two stone slabs Friday afternoon.
The unidentified 50-year-old Queens man was an employee for the Long Island City-based Leadstone USA, located on 50th Avenue across the street from a UPS warehouse in the shadow of the Long Island Expressway, authorities said.
The the worker attempted to move the marble slabs with a mechanical hoist about 5 p.m.,when he may have slipped and become trapped under the heavy rock.
The man suffered severe trauma to the neck and was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.
A 50-year-old UPS employee who only gave his first name, Vic, said that he has observed the the contraption that he called “a boom” that the company uses to move its stone slabs.
He said the marble gets attached to a beam on the ceiling that moves along a track the width of the warehouse. He was overcome with emotion at the news of the worker’s death.
“Just imagine what he was going through with that initial contact,” Vic said, standing outside the taped-off warehouse, hours after the deadly incident. “Hopefully it just knocked him out. This has not been a Good Friday,” he added.