Santa Fe High School construction collapse claims life of worker
The Santa Fe, Texas police department has confirmed that a collapse at a construction project at Santa Fe High School has claimed the life of 21-year old Richard Steinecke II of New Caney, Texas. Mr. Steinecke passed away at the University of Texas Medical Branch due to his injuries. Two other employees sustained leg injuries in the collapse: 26-year old Cody Key who is from Conroe and Escolastico Mendez who is from Houston. Sgt. Eric Bruss, a spokesman for Santa Fe Police Department, said Mr. Steinecke sustained massive internal injuries in the incident. The three men were involved in the second phase of an expansion project at Santa Fe High School when there was a partial collapse of the structure at about 9:35AM on Friday March 18th. Mr. Steinecke fell nearly 50 feet and was then pinned under a metal beam weighing thousands of pounds. A Click2Houston.com story reports that the three injured workers were employed by P&C Construction Erectors of Porter, Texas. The cause of the structure’s collapse is still under investigation. The construction project is to build a new auditorium: no children were present at the school at the time.