Panel Probing Subway Death Hears Inspectors

In an expanding probe of the troubled Los Angeles subway project, state job safety inspectors Wednesday appeared before the county grand jury as part of a criminal investigation into the death last year of a Metro Rail construction worker.

Prosecutors declined to discuss the secret proceedings, but sources close to the investigation said it has been underway for months and focuses on the circumstances leading to the death of Jaime Pasillas.

The 52-year-old Los Angeles man was the first of three subway workers killed last year, the first fatalities in the 10-year history of the region’s largest public works project.

Pasillas was crushed to death in February by a refuse bin containing more than two tons of material that broke free of a chain as it was being hauled out of a Hollywood subway tunnel.

The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health in May cited contractor Tutor-Saliba-Perini for 14 mostly serious violations of worker safety laws and imposed fines of $70,500. Cal/OSHA concluded that the contractor used a substandard chain.

The district attorney’s office has been investigating the three workers’ deaths and, according to sources, is using the grand jury’s subpoena power as part of its probe. It was not clear whether the grand jurors are examining more than Pasillas’ death or if their closed-door proceedings will lead to any indictments.

“There is an investigation that is continuing . . . and it could last for months,” said a source familiar with the proceedings.

Citing the secret nature of the proceedings, the district attorney’s office declined comment. Ron Tutor of Tutor-Saliba-Perini, who is appealing the Cal/OSHA citations, also declined comment, as did Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials.

Cal/OSHA spokesman Dean Fryer confirmed Wednesday that two of the agency’s investigators were subpoenaed to appear to present the results of their investigation into Pasillas’ death. Officials would not discuss their findings.

An MTA source also confirmed that some of that agency’s construction safety inspectors have been asked to appear before the grand jury. MTA records also have been subpoenaed.

This the latest probe of the subway project that has drawn the scrutiny of authorities from here to Washington.

The MTA inspector general is conducting a criminal investigation into the agency’s handling of a controversial contract for the Eastside subway extension.

Federal authorities have won bribery convictions against two former MTA administrators and two former contractors.

An independent audit released last fall found that the injury rate on the massive subway project was worse than the national average for such work, prompting MTA officials to order an extraordinary half-day halt to construction so workers could review safety rules.

Attorney Patrick McNicholas, who is representing the Pasillas family in a wrongful death lawsuit against the MTA and construction manager JMA, said Wednesday that he was alerted to the grand jury proceedings in early November.

At that time, McNicholas said, he was told by officials at Tutor-Saliba-Perini that their employees would not be available for depositions in the civil suit because the matter was under investigation by the grand jury.

“The only information I was given is that they were looking into the death of Jaime Pasillas,” McNicholas said. “But it would not be a stretch to believe that they are looking at the entire [subway] project.”

The wrongful death suit filed by Pasillas’ family alleges that the MTA and JMA violated the subway worker’s civil rights because, McNicholas said, “they had him work in an area where they knew the safety rules would not be followed” due to pressure to complete the multibillion-dollar project at “warp speed.”