Falls to death off roof
A WORKER installing solar panels took a fatal plunge from the roof of a Queens home Thursday, police said.
The 60-year-old man was working for the solar panel firm Sunrun on a two-story house on 50th Ave., near 94th St., in Corona when he fell at about 11:50 a.m. Medics rushed him to Elmhurst Hospital, where he died.
He was testing the anchors installed to hold the panels, said Gary Padgett, a retired construction worker who lives across the street and saw the aftermath.
“He was up there yanking on it, to make sure it was secure, and he came off the roof,” Padgett said. “He wasn’t attached. Nothing would have happened to him if he’d been tied on. Nothing. It’s such a shame.”
“Our deep-felt sympathies are with the family of our employee,” said Sunrun spokeswoman Morgan Mathis. “We are doing a thorough investigation working with the authorities and OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration) so we can understand what happened.”