Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, August 31, 1993                   TAG: 9308310165
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY METRO 
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

JUDGE RULES NO CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE

Todd Michael Overheul, 28, who now lives in New York, was indicted by a Montgomery County grand jury in the June 1990 death of a college student killed when a ditch caved in on him at a construction site.

Overheul was charged because he was a foreman and had been accused of failing to properly supervise Simon Peter Eyre, 23, of Blacksburg.

Eyre was a student at Old Dominion University who was home for summer vacation when he applied for a construction job. He was killed four hours after he started working for Vistavia.

According to police reports, Eyre had been working in a 14-foot-deep ditch, running water lines from a subdivision behind Christiansburg High School. The crew was leaving to go home when Eyre was told to fetch a shovel and some other tools left behind. The trench caved in as he was retrieving the items.

Monday, Circuit Judge Kenneth Devore dismissed the manslaughter charge, granting a motion by Overheul's lawyer, Dutton Olinger of Blacksburg.

Olinger said Overheul was called a foreman, but was actually a laborer like other workers. Commonwealth's Attorney Phil Keith agreed that Overheul was "essentially a laborer just like everybody else, and therefore didn't have the necessary level of criminal responsibility to be held liable" for Eyre's death.

Earlier this year, Devore dismissed an involuntary manslaughter charge against George Edward Via, the president of Montgomery Parks Inc., which does business as Vistavia Development Corp., after ruling there was no evidence of criminal intent.

In April, Devore also granted a request by Keith to withdraw a misdemeanor charge against Vistavia and Montgomery Parks that carried a $10,000 fine. The indictment charged the companies with violating state safety laws.

Montgomery Parks Inc. filed for bankruptcy in January, meaning new fines would not be recoverable.

On the recommendation of the state Department of Labor and Industry, Keith has filed a civil lawsuit against the company in an effort to recover $50,000 in penalties levied by the Labor Department shortly after Eyre's death.

Investigators reported that the ditch in which Eyre was killed was not braced or sloped as required by federal health and safety regulations.

The companies also were cited for allowing employees to work in the ditch without hard hats. Eyre was not wearing a hard hat when he was killed.

Labor officials fined Vistavia and Montgomery Parks $50,000 for violating state safety rules required for trench lines deeper than 5 feet.

Eyre was the son of Peter and Margot Eyre. Peter Eyre is dean of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech.

Keywords:
FATALITY