Landscaper dies after falling into cesspool
15 Jun, 2007 LM Direct!DEER PARK, NY — According to news reports, a Long Island landscaper died Tuesday, June 12 from injuries sustained after falling into a cesspool while cutting a Deer Park lawn and being crushed by the quarter-ton mower.
Around noon, Sergio Reyes, 34, was mowing the backyard of a Commack Road home while another employee from PM Landscaping of Central Islip worked on the front yard, police said.
The other landscaper, whose name was not released, went to the backyard and discovered Reyes trapped in the block-lined cesspool, his head above the liquid, with his lawn mower pinning him to the wall, police said.
While using a Wright Stander mower, Reyes had clipped the lid of the cesspool, causing it to give way, police said. The lid was below the surface, covered with grass and dirt and not readily visible, they said.
The other landscaper called for help and held Reyes' arms above the liquid in the eight-foot-deep cesspool, police said. Reyes was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip, where he died from his injuries, police said.
The owner of PM Landscaping, Pedro Martinez, is Reyes' cousin and rushed to the scene. "I was going crazy, trying to get him out," said Martinez, 36, of Central Islip. "We tried to pull the machine out."
Bob LiPetri, son of the homeowner, Frank LiPetri, said the cesspool was built when his father bought the house in 1947. Bob LiPetri said he checks the cesspool to make sure the grass above is not caving in and the lid, made of concrete, is not deteriorating. "It was in good shape," he said. "There was nothing wrong with it."
According to later reports, the Suffolk County medical examiner concluded that Reyes suffocated to death, as the lawnmower that pinned him in the cesspool ultimately hindered his ability to breath, killing him.
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