Agency closes case on Burbank worker’s death

State officials will no longer be looking into the death of a worker who was crushed to death by the bottom doors of a gravel truck in Burbank last month.

Peter Melton, spokesman for Cal/OSHA, said in an email that the agency had “closed this case with no inspection.”

“The reason is that the deceased was deemed a contractor and Cal/OSHA was unable to establish an employee-employer relationship as required,” he said.

The worker, 58-year-old Vigen Boodaghian, died by “mechanical asphyxiation,” said Los Angeles County coroner spokesman Ed Winter, who added that there were “compression injuries to the torso.”

The accident occurred about 10 a.m. on Memorial Day at a lot leased by a construction company on Magnolia Boulevard, west of Front Street, near the Golden State (5) Freeway, Police Sgt. Darin Ryburn said.

Boodaghian was extricated by a truck driver before emergency responders arrived. He was pronounced dead by paramedics at the scene.

The coroner’s office said Boodaghian was apparently cleaning the bottom of the dump truck when the gates closed and crushed him.

-- Maria Hsin, Times Community News

Twitter: @mariahsin