Boston police have identified the construction worker who was killed during a partial collapse of the Government Center parking garage in the Haymarket area of the city.
A spokesperson for the Boston Police Department said Sunday that the victim of Saturday’s deadly construction accident is 51-year-old Peter Monsini, of South Easton.
Boston Fire Commissioner Jack Dempsey said his department received a call at about 5:40 p.m. reporting a building collapse at 1 Congress St.
NewsCenter 5’s Emily Maher, who was in the North End reporting on a different story, said she saw multiple floors of the parking garage — part of which was being demolished — come crashing down between 5:35 p.m. and 5:40 p.m.
According to Dempsey, Monsini was doing demolition work inside the parking garage in a construction vehicle — which Dempsey described as a Bobcat-type vehicle that was equipped with a jackhammer — when the floor buckled underneath the vehicle.
Dempsey said that according to witnesses, the vehicle was approaching the edge of the building when the floor buckled and collapsed.
After the floor collapsed, Monsini was still inside construction vehicle as it went over the side of the parking garage and fell nine stories.
“It literally sounded like a ton of rubble fell. It just sounded like a huge crash,” witness Caroline Catano told NewsCenter 5’s David Bienick on Sunday. “I’m used to a lot of noise because they’re always doing the jackammering, but I knew something was amiss when I heard that particular sound.”
In a statement confirming the fatal accident at its One Congress Street job site, John Moriarty & Associates said the death happened at about 5:30 p.m. when a concrete slab on the ninth floor on the east side of the Haymarket Garage collapsed onto the eighth floor.
The subcontractors working demolition at the time were evacuated from the building and the site has been temporarily shut down.
A multitude of Boston police officers, firefighters and Emergency Medical Services personnel, along with Massachusetts State Police troopers, responded to the scene.
Firefighters found Monsini at the bottom of a pile of rubble and Boston EMS personnel pronounced him dead at the scene.
“This is a horrible tragedy and my heart goes out to the family and loved ones of the worker,” said Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.
“Our heartfelt thoughts and condolences go out to the loved ones of the worker who lost his life,” reads the statement from John Moriarty & Associates. “JMA remains committed to providing a safe and healthy workplace for all our employees and trade partners. We would like to thank the Boston Police Department and EMS for their swift response.”
Boston fire officials said Monsini’s body was removed from the site at 9:15 p.m. Saturday after members of the Boston Inspectional Services department deemed it safe to do so.
On Sunday, inspectors used a fire engine’s bucket latter and a drone to inspect the pile of rubble at the scene.
Boston EMS officials said a second person, a passerby who did not appear to be physically injured, was transported to an area hospital.
One man who witnessed the collapse told Maher that he could hear the sound of jackhammers just moments before he saw some parts of the parking garage collapse.
“The open half just collapsed. It couldn’t be on purpose. It had to be an accident,” that witness said.
A woman who heard the collapse said it sounded like continuous thunder.
A photo shared with NewsCenter 5 via Twitter showed what appeared to be the heavy construction equipment described by Dempsey trapped under concrete rubble.
Boston police warned that vehicular and pedestrian traffic would be impacted in the surrounding areas. The following street closures and detours will remain in effect until further notice:
- Surface Road between New Chardon and Hanover streets. Traffic will be diverted from North Washington Street to New Chardon Street or to the Southeast Expressway.
- Congress Street travelling west will be closed at Hanover to New Chardon streets.
- Congress Street traveling east will be closed from New Chardon to Sudbury streets.
- Sudbury Street between Congress and Surface streets will be closed, and all traffic on Sudbury Street will be diverted to Congress Street traveling east.
As a result of Saturday’s partial collapse at the Government Center parking garage, the MBTA will keep rail service in the Green and Orange lines suspended in the tunnels beneath the site. The transit authority announced weeks before Saturday’s collapse that shuttle buses would be replacing subway service on both the Green and Orange lines this weekend.
The MBTA said it will not resume rail service through the area until a team of structural engineers confirms that subway service can safely resume following an examination and assessment of the infrastructure above and below the service. The transit authority estimates the service impacts could last several days as a result.
Orange Line service will be suspended between North Station and Back Bay, while Green Line service will not operate between North Station and Government Center. Shuttle buses will be running between North Station and Government Center. Orange Line customers who wish to reach destinations between Downtown Crossing and Back Bay are encouraged to use nearby Green Line stations between Park and Copley stations.
The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office will be involved in the investigation of the worker’s death, along with numerous local, state and federal agencies, including Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
“Our office is a stone’s throw away from the garage and our staff has watched through their office windows all the work being done these many months. To know that one of the workers on this project has tragically died weighs heavy on our hearts. Our deepest sympathies go out to his family and friends,” reads a statement from the DA’s Office.
Parking garage project history
The demolition of the Government Center parking garage has been going on for several years.
Demo work initially began in December 2016 as part of a project to construct a six-building, mix-used development called Bulfinch Crossing.
The Bulfinch Crossing project includes a 1 million-square-foot office tower, a hotel and what will be Boston’s tallest apartment tower at 45 stories.
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