District Attorney Brooke Jenkins accused the defendants of failing to ensure the project was safe before a worker was buried alive.

Oct 19, 2026

Updated 3:33 pm PT

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins speaks at a press conference outside the Warfield in San Francisco on Oct. 7, 2026. San Francisco prosecutors charged a construction company and its employees in connection with the 2023 death of a worker. (Nina Glick/KQED)

San Francisco prosecutors announced on Monday that they have filed felony involuntary manslaughter charges against a construction company and three of its employees in connection with a trench collapse that killed a worker in 2023. 

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission contracted with D’Arcy & Harty Construction, Inc, for a sewer tunnel rehabilitation project in the city’s Lower Haight neighborhood in September 2023. Javier Romero of Alameda, 24, was working in a narrow trench near the corner of Oak and Divisadero Streets when a passing heavy vehicle caused it to collapse. 

Romero was buried alive and died of asphyxia. 

The defendants, John Finbarr Darcy, 62, of San Francisco; John William Tobin, 39, of San Francisco, and Filiberto Poblano Perez, 52, of Richmond, were working as site safety representative, project manager, and foreman, respectively. Each was charged with four counts of violation of a safety standard resulting in death of an employee, in addition to involuntary manslaughter.

San Francisco firefighters responded to a trench collapse near Oak and Divisadero Streets in San Francisco on September 28, 2023. The victim, 24-year-old Javier Romero, died trapped below ground. (Courtesy of the San Francisco Fire Department)

“This is a life that did not need to be lost,” said San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins as she announced the charges on Monday. “This was an act that could have been prevented had those who have been charged, as well as this company, acted as they should have to protect this worker and to make sure that this project was safe. And we will hold them accountable.”

Matt McCarthy, chief of the San Francisco District Attorney’s White Collar Crime Division, said the company can be fined up to $1.5 million. 

“There’s actually been an extension of that amount, but that extension came after this incident took place. So going forward, it’d be in the several millions, but right now it’s capped at $1.5 million,” McCarthy said. 

Jenkins said that John William Tobin, the final defendant, has not surrendered yet to date, and that she is working with his attorney to have him do so. 

D’Arcy & Harty Construction did not respond to a request for comment. 

The next court date is the preliminary hearing set for Nov. 14.