UPDATED: Los Angeles High-Rise Construction Worker Falls 50 Stories to His Death onto Driver

By ALEXANDER NGUYEN (Patch Staff)

A man working on a high-rise building fell 50 stories to his death in downtown Los Angeles on Thursday, but the building project's general contractor said the victim had no reason to be above the structure's third floor.

He fell from the Wilshire Grand Tower in the 600 block of S. Figueroa Street at around 12:07, Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Margaret Stewart said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The man was an electrician who was on his second day on the job, according to a report from the scene. His name was withheld, pending notification of his family.

The man fell on a moving car heading north on Figueroa, at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard. The driver of the car, a woman, was being evaluated, she said.

"She was not injured but has difficulties breathing," Stewart said.

Traffic around the area is being affected as authorities are investigating the cause of the fall.

When completed, the Wilshire Grand will be the tallest building west of the Mississippi.

The 73-story Wilshire Grand is being developed by Korean Air, which is owned by Hanjin International Corp., at a cost topping $1 billion. The high- rise will be 1,100 feet when completed in 2017, surpassing the height of the U.S. Bank Tower, currently the tallest building in Los Angeles at 1,018 feet.

The man was employed by ASSI Security Inc. out of Irvine, according to Erika Monterroza of Cal/OSHA, the state's Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The circumstances of the death were under investigation by Los Angeles police and Cal/OSHA, which opened an inspection with both ASSI and the project's general contractor, Turner Construction Co. of Anaheim.

The man was not engaged in work-related activities when he fell and was not authorized to be on the floor from which he fell, said Lisa Gritzner, a spokeswoman for Turner Construction Co. of Anaheim.

"We have confirmed with CalOSHA and (the) LAPD that the incident which occurred at the Wilshire Grand project site today was not work-related," according to a company statement. "After an initial onsite investigation Cal OSHA has confirmed that no fall-protection violations were observed.

Turner Construction Co., which is managing the project, closed the work site for the day and indicated it would make counselors available to those affected by the tragedy.

"We were deeply saddened to learn that we have lost a member of the team building the Wilshire Grand Center," a company statement says. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the worker's family. On any given day, there are 1,000 men and women working on this project. The entire team working on this project is committed to the safety of all of our workers, and we will do everything we can to understand what happened here today and prevent it from happening again."

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City News Service contributed to this report.