The owners of an East Flabush market are responsible for the death of a Queens man because they were illegally using the makeshift hoist that crushed him, lawyers for the deceased man’s family claim.
Young-Kil Sim’s was making a delivery to the KP Farm Market on Nostand Avenue between Foster Road and Newkirk Avenue on April 2 when he walked beneath a hoisted platform that fell on him, killing him — a fact the Sim’s family’s lawyer says was inexcusable.
“The only reason he’s dead is negligence.” said their lawyer Mark R. Bernstein.
The device that killed Sim was illegally installed and lacked safeguards, according to the Department of Buildings. The department ordered the market to stop using the hoist following the incident.
The illegal nature of the hoist is a key component of the suit, according to the attorney.
“This makeshift elevator should have never been in the building,” said Bernstein, who is a lawyer at Sanders & Kim, PLLC. “Honestly, it’s a disgrace it was ever being used.”
Sim had his own retail merchandise company, and was delivering items to KP Farm Market with his wife on the day of his death, he said.
No criminal charges have been filed, but the Department of Buildings is still investigating the incident.
The civic suit will be filed against both KP Farm Market and the building owner shortly, and the parties have been notified of the coming action, according to a release from Sanders & Kim, PLLC.
The Department of Buildings database lists Nostrand Retail Group, LLC as the location’s owner. Efforts to reach the LLC and KP Farm Market by phone and in person were unsuccessful.
