A construction worker was killed Thursday morning after sticking his head into an elevator shaft at a Downtown building, police said.
Workers at the scene said James A. Neely, 44, of Shiloh Street, Bellevue, was working on the seventh-floor of the former Try Street Terminal Building at Try Street and First Avenue. The elevator hit him in the head, killing him instantly, the workers said. The incident happened shortly before 8 a.m., police said.
Neely was pronounced dead at the scene at 8:05 a.m, said Mark Hansen, a forensic investigator with the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office. The cause of death was listed as blunt force trauma to the head.
The construction workers were sent home for the day.
Neely worked for Mariani & Richards, a subcontractor doing masonry work on the building.
The Art Institute of Pittsburgh is working with Massaro Corp., of O'Hara, and Pittsburgh architects Tasso Katselas Associates, Inc, to turn the First Avenue warehouse into 140 student apartments. When completed, the nine-story building will house more than 650 students. The $15 million project is expected to be finished late next year.
Mariani & Richards President Ron Freeborough said Neely had been with the company 20 years.
"He was very experienced," Freeborough said, "a good worker."
