Contractor said employee died from fall near a bridge — but he lied, New York cops say
A man who owns a contracting company told police his employee had taken a steep fall near a bridge before he was airlifted to a hospital and died, police in New York said.
However, that wasn’t the full story or true, according to the Northville Police Department.
Investigators learned the owner of Wiedemann Contracting lied about exactly where his employee fell May 12, a few days before his death at Albany Medical Center, police said in a June 14 news release.
Instead of falling near a bridge, the employee fell from the roof of a home at the contractor’s construction site in the Town of Northampton, according to authorities. The contractor didn’t have worker’s compensation for the job, police said.
The contractor was arrested June 12 on charges of falsely reporting an incident, tampering with physical evidence and effect of failure to secure compensation, according to the release.
Information regarding whether he has legal representation wasn’t immediately available.
The investigation into the incident stems from May 12, when officers were initially called to a report about the employee, whose head was bleeding, police said. The employee was also described as being “in and out of consciousness” before he was taken to a hospital.
Police didn’t say who called to report the incident.
Afterward, the contractor was accused of telling authorities his worker fell 10-12 feet near the Batchellerville Bridge — which is about 5 miles northeast of the construction site where the employee actually fell, according to police.
Three days later, a tip came in about the true location of the fall, and the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office took over the investigation, police said.
The contractor is due in court at a later date, according to the release.
McClatchy News contacted the contractor for comment on June 16 and didn’t receive an immediate response.
Although police have publicly identified the contractor, McClatchy News isn’t naming him because he’s not accused of causing direct physical harm to a person as of June 16.
The Village of Northville is about 60 miles southeast of Albany.
This story was originally published June 16, 2023 at 2:02 PM with the headline "Contractor said employee died from fall near a bridge — but he lied, New York cops say."
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