Earlier this week, a Tortilleria Chinantla employee died in the East Williamsburg factory after being caught in a mixing machine. Now, the state has closed the factory because officials from the State Workers Compensation board went to the factory after the accident and found that the company's workers comp policy had lapsed in March of last year.
A ">surveillance video detailed that final moments of 22-year-old Juan Baten's life: The video shows Baten frequently reaching into the deep machine to push the dough down, but around 2:30 a.m. his arm got caught on one of the blades and was pulled in. The mechanical arms broke his neck almost instantly.
A NY State Workers Compensation spokesman said, "The owner would need to get the insurance and pay fines before he is permitted to reopen." While the Workers Comp board doesn't always shut down companies where the insurance is lapsed, the fact that there was a workplace death prompted officials to visit Tortilleria Chinantla. As it stands, the company owes $56,000 in penalties. OSHA and the Department of Labor are also looking into the incident.
