Construction worker crushed under patio in south Las Vegas

A construction worker building a patio was crushed to death when it collapsed onto him Sunday afternoon in the south valley, Las Vegas police said.

He was working underneath the patio at a residence in the 7700 block of Haven Street, near Las Vegas Boulevard South and East Warm Springs Road, when the patio fell onto him, Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Chris Holmes said. It wasn’t immediately clear why the structure fell.

“Other workers began removing the debris and discovered the male worker deceased,” Holmes said.

The Clark County Fire Department was called about 1:45 p.m., and “heavy rescue” tools lifted further wreckage off of the man, but he was dead upon arrival, Battalion Chief Thomas Touchstone said. The homeowners were not there at the time of the collapse, he said.

Yellow tape closed off a small stretch of Haven on Sunday afternoon — undeveloped desert made up the land west of the street and single-story homes sat along the east side. A handful of people in orange shirts gathered by a police car on the south end of the residential street.

About 3:45 p.m., the man’s maroon sheet-covered body was wheeled out from the property with a full, blue dumpster sitting out front.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration will investigate the man’s death, Holmes said. Messages to an OSHA representative seeking comment were not immediately returned.

The Clark County coroner’s office will release his identity, as well as his cause and manner of death, once his family is notified.

Contact Mike Shoro at mshoro@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290. Follow @mike_shoro on Twitter.