By Nick Mattera
Niagara Gazette
NIAGARA FALLS —
A One Niagara employee who mysteriously disappeared in early July while on the job, has been confirmed dead by Niagara Falls Police Saturday, following an in-depth review of surveillance video obtained by detectives last night.
John Adams, 67, a maintenance worker at One Niagara was last seen on July 4 at around 10 p.m. when he performed a final trash sweep of the Niagara Street complex. Video surveillance reviewed by police shows Adam’s entering an active trash compactor to retrieve a fallen garbage bin and apparently being crushed by the device. The video revealed that Adams died from the injuries suffered and prevented his body from being discovered.
“The footage shows that Mr.Adams fell into a large self-contained dumpster that has a mechanical compacting mechanism that prevented him from being able to escape and made it impossible for coworkers or others to realize what occurred,” a statement from the Niagara Falls Police Department said.
The death as been ruled an occupational accident.
When asked why video footage was not reviewed earlier in the process, One Niagara President Tony Farina said police had sifted through the dumpster at the time Adams was reported missing and found no conclusive evidence of his remains and therefore did not review the tape in question.
Falls Police detectives reviewed video surveillance late Friday, along with officials from One Niagara, Farina said which is when it became clear how Adams had died.
Farina called the conclusion a tragic loss to the One Niagara family.
“The police had taken the dumpster shortly after (Adams) had disappeared and sifted it for possible remains and they came back with nothing, so we hadn’t reviewed that particular tape until (Friday),” Farina said. “It was a very startling and tragic discovery, everybody at One Niagara is deeply saddened by this. We had always held out hope that somehow John would turn up OK and this is a terrible way for things to end.”
Arthur J. Dube, Buffalo area director of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration was on site Saturday afternoon to begin an investigation into the death of Adams. When Dube attempted to operate the trash compactor, it malfunctioned and did not operate properly. Dube could not comment or speculate whether the malfunction may have contributed to the death of Adams.
“We are opening up our investigation Today (Saturday), we will have a conference with the building manager, we will start gathering information, gathering evidence, taking interview statements and conduct a full investigation to find out if any OSHA regulations were broken,” Dube told the Niagara Gazette. “We have a six month statute of limitation, meaning we will issue a report in six months.”
The trash compactor—owned by Allied Waste, is not to be used or moved until Monday, while both Falls police and OSHA officials continue obtaining evidence at the One Niagara site.
Following his disappearance Farina and One Niagara owner Frank Parlato Jr. offered a $1,500 reward for information of the whereabouts of Adams. Farina said Adams was a reliable, hard working individual who will be missed.
“My heart goes out to his family and friends,” Farina said.
