Suffield, Somers Men Plea In Accident That Killed East Windsor Worker

VERNON, CT — Men from Suffield and Somers are each facing five years in prison after pleas Friday in connection with a trench accident at a Vernon construction site in 2022 that claimed the life of an East Windsor worker.

Tolland Judicial District State's Attorney Matthew C. Gedansky said that Dennis Botticello, 69, of Suffield and Glen Locke, 67, of Somers, each entered guilty pleas in Rockville Superior Court before Judge Kathleen E. McNamara to second-degree manslaughter.

The pleas stemmed from the death of 56-year-old East Windsor resident Dennis Slater, who was an employee of Botticello Inc.

The accident took place at a construction site on Bolton Branch Road in Vernon on July 22, 2022. An investigation showed that the "proper, legal safeguards were not in place" before an 8-foot-deep trench caved in at the site and buried Slater. Police reports show that emergency personnel and construction workers were able to free Slater from the trench and provide medical aid and Slater was transported to Manchester Memorial Hospital by ambulance. He later died of his injuries, case records show, according to police reports.

Botticello owns Botticello Inc., and Locke was the equipment operator working near Slater at the time of the trench collapse.

A joint investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Vernon Police Department determined that the defendants violated OSHA standards in the industry by not having the required safety equipment and other equipment to prevent trench cave-ins. In January 2023, OSHA fined the company more than $375,000 in connection with the fatal trench collapse.

Previously in 2015, OSHA investigators identified four serious violations related to trenching work by Botticello Inc. at a Stafford worksite.

When Botticello and Locke are sentenced in Rockville Superior Court on May 16, they each are expected to receive a sentence of 10 years in prison, suspended after five years served, followed by three years of probation, Gedansky said. The plea agreement allows each defendant to argue for a lesser sentence.

This case is being prosecuted by Gedansky.