BOSTON (WHDH/AP) — The employer of two men killed in a 2016 trench collapse in Boston has been found guilty of two counts of manslaughter and one count of witness intimidation.
A judge convicted Kevin Otto, owner of Atlantic Drain Service, in Suffolk Superior Court Thursday in a jury-waived trial, according to the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office.
Workers Kelvin Mattocks and Robert Higgins were working in the trench in Boston’s South End in October 2016 when it collapsed and broke a fire hydrant supply line that flooded the 14-foot deep trench with water.
The defense argued the city of Boston had failed to properly maintain a fire hydrant.
Prosecutors say Otto had a history of safety violations and should have installed cave-in protections known as trench boxes at the site.
Sentencing was scheduled for Dec. 4.
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