Portland, Ore. — (KGW) An Oregon contractor is being investigated in connection with an overpass accident that killed a family of three in western Washington April 13.
Josh and Vanessa Ellis and their 8-month-old son, Hudson, were killed after falling debris from State Route 410 in Bonney Lake, Wash. fell onto a pickup truck on the street below. Josh and Vanessa were youth pastors in their 20s.
An Oregon subcontractor working on the Bonney Lake project is being investigated following the deaths. KGW learned the company, Staton Companies of Eugene, has a history of citations.
Staton Companies was fined $275 following the partial collapse of the Sauvie Island Bridge in 2007. State records showed the company was cited by Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for not conducting an engineering survey, which contributed to the collapse of one of the north spans.
“The Sauvie Island citation was a result of the unforeseeable failure of structural concrete weakened by contaminated debris that was discovered after a collapse exclusive to the last span,” said Jeanne Staton, president of Staton Companies.
An excavator was on the bridge doing demolition work at the time but wasn’t hurt.
Staton was also cited by Washington Labor and Industries three years ago for three violations at a bridge construction site in Marysville. The violations were quickly corrected.
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