Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 7, 1993 TAG: 9305070504
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
George Edward Via was indicted in the June 1990 death of a college student killed when a ditch caved in on him.
Montgomery County Circuit Judge Kenneth Devore entered an order last month striking the indictment against Via, president of Montgomery Parks Inc., which does business as Vistavia Development Corp.
Simon Peter Eyre, 23, of Blacksburg, was a student at Old Dominion University who was home for summer vacation when he applied for a construction job. He was killed four hours after he started working for Vistavia.
According to police reports, Eyre had been working in a 14-foot-deep ditch running waterlines from a subdivision behind Christiansburg High School. The crew was leaving to go home when a foreman told Eyre to fetch a shovel and some other tools left behind. The trench caved in as he was retrieving the items.
Devore ruled that Via could not be found guilty of manslaughter because there was no evidence of criminal intent, Commonwealth's Attorney Phil Keith said Thursday.
The dismissal was requested by Via's lawyer, John Huntington of Christiansburg.
An involuntary manslaughter indictment against Todd Overheul, a construction foreman for Vistavia, is still pending, Keith said.
Devore also granted a request by Keith to withdraw a misdemeanor charge against Vistavia and Montgomery Parks that carried a $10,000 fine. The indictment charged the companies with violating state safety laws.
Montgomery Parks Inc. filed for bankruptcy in January, meaning new fines would not be recoverable.
On the recommendation of the state Department of Labor and Industry, Keith has filed a civil lawsuit against the company in an effort to recover $50,000 in penalties levied by the Labor Department shortly after Eyre's death.
Investigators reported that the ditch in which Eyre was killed was not braced or sloped as required by federal health and safety regulations.
The companies also were cited for allowing employees to work in the ditch without hard hats. Eyre was not wearing a hard hat when he was killed.
Labor officials fined Vistavia and Montgomery Parks $50,000 for violating state safety rules required for trench lines deeper than five feet.
Eyre was the son of Peter and Margot Eyre. Peter Eyre is dean of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech.
by CNB