A man was killed after being fatally injured at the construction site of Centennial Village when the scissor lift he was standing on fell over on the morning of Saturday, April 27. First responders airlifted him to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
Coastal Construction Group, the contractor for Centennial Village, released a statement on May 1, saying that an employee for JMJ Painting Contractor died in the accident.
“Our hearts and prayers are with the person’s family,” the statement said.
The identity of the victim has not been released.
“Our units got dispatched to an incident at the construction site where they said that a construction worker was injured, and when they arrived they saw that there was a scissor lift on the floor with a construction worker injured,” said Lt. Ishmael Roig from the Public Information Center for the Coral Gables Fire Department. “They quickly realized that it was going to be a pretty traumatic call, so they started their rescue. They were able to stabilize them, get them over to Air Rescue and transfer him over to the trauma center.”
Freshman biochemistry major, Adrianna Watts, was leaving the Herbert Wellness Center at the time of the accident.
“I was just looking at Centennial and I see the guy at the top. And at first, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh that guy’s about to fall.’ But then, like, I realized that the entire crane was falling over,” said Watts. “I saw the crane, like, the entire bottom of it had flipped sideways.”
The University of Miami sent a message to all students alerting them of police and fire activity at Centennial Village and the IM Fields informing them to avoid those areas.
Sophomore business marketing major Callie Madsen was on her way to the Herbert Wellness Center after the accident had taken place.
“I saw the construction workers packing up their trucks for the day as police and fire trucks surrounded Centennial Village,” said Madsen. “I could feel that something was wrong.”
Students at the Stanford Residential College, which borders the IM Fields, were able to see the helicopter land on the field to pick up the injured worker and airlift him to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The Coral Gables Police Department or Coral Gables Fire Department have yet to begin an investigation into the accident.