Arizona Court of Appeals upholds conviction of Far West Co.

After nearly five years of court proceedings, the Arizona Court of Appeals has upheld the conviction and sentences of the Far West Water and Sewer Company in the death of two men in 2001.

The original conviction was made by a jury in the summer of 2006, but was appealed.

The charges arose from an incident that occurred on October 24, 2001 at a sewage collection and treatment facility owned and operated by Far West. At that time, Santec Corporation was a subcontractor of Far West.

A Far West employee, James Gamble, and a Santec employee, Gary Lanser, died in an underground sewage tank after they were overcome by hydrogen sulfide gas. Another Far West employee, Nathan Garrett, suffered severe injuries when he attempted to rescue Gamble from the tank.

Far West, the company as a whole, was found guilty for one count of negligent homicide, one count of aggravated assault, two counts of endangerment and one count of violating a safety standard or regulation that caused the death of Gamble.

The court placed Far West on four years' probation for negligent homicide, five years' probation for aggravated assault and three years' probation for each count of endangerment and for violating a safety standard or regulation that caused the death of an employee. It also imposed fines and penalties totaling $1,770,000.

Far West's lawyers appealed the conviction based on the argument that the company was not a "person" for purposes of imposing criminal liability for manslaughter. The lawyers also claimed the dismissal of a juror during proceedings was grounds for dismissal, court documents reveal.

After intense scrutiny, Judges Sheldon Weisberg, Donn Kessler and Lawrence Winthrop affirmed Far West's Convictions.

Gamble's step-father, Ed Thrasher, is glad the Arizona Court of Appeals has upheld the convictions.

"They killed him — it was cut and dry," he said, but added he doesn't believe in closure. "When I hear that word, it is a misnomer. You never have closure. Seriously, honest to God, Jimmy is out there in the Foothills buried, and I go out and clean his gravestone once a month."

According to court documents, prior to the incident, Far West acquired the Mesa Del Oro Plant and hired Santec to renovate equipment in a 3,000 gallon underground sewage tank called the Mesa Del Oro Tank, which was nine feet underground.

The interior of the Tank could only be accessed by descending down a ladder into a manhole approximately four feet wide. Two ewer lines fed into the Tank. The gravity line carried sewage downhill by gravitational force. The force main line carried sewage  by way of force main pumps from another tank or lift station, approximately one mile away.

On October 24, 2001, Far West and Santec began work on the tank. The Far West crew included Gamble and Garrett with Connie Charles supervising. The Santec crew included Lanser and two other employees. After the force main pumps at the lift station were shut off, Gamble and Garrett pumped out the sewage from the surface and cleaned out the remaining sewage from inside the tank.

As part of this process, Gamble inserted a plug into the gravity line to stop the flow of sewage. Normally, the crew would pull the gravity line plug and exit the tank before turning on the force main pump. On this occasion, however, Charles drove to the lift station, turned on the pumps and sewage began flowing into the Tank.

When the tank was about half full of sewage, Gamble climbed inside to unplug the gravity line. When the lower part of his body was in the tank, he passed out and fell into the sewage. Garrett saw Gamble floating facedown in the Tank, and in an effort to rescue him, Garrett tied a rope around his waist and climbed down a ladder into almost waist-deep sewage.

Not able to get Gamble out of the Tank, Garrett tried to climb up the ladder but passed out before he reached the top. Lanser then climbed down the manhole in an attempt to rescue both Gamble and Garrett, passed out and fell into the Tank.

Charles rushed back to the tank and entered it in an effort to rescue Gamble, Garrett and Lanser. She, too, passed out, but eventually regained consciousness.

Emergency personnel arrived at the scene and found Charles near the top of the ladder, but unable to get out. With assistance, he pulled her to the surface. Garrett was tied to the ladder below Charles and unable to move.

The paramedic put on a self-contained breathing apparatus, climbed into the tank, and with the help of others, pulled Garrett out. The Yuma Fire Department later recovered the bodies of Gamble and Lanser.

The Yuma County medical examiner concluded that both were overcome by inhalation of sewage gas but the immediate cause of death was asphyxia due to drowning. Although Garrett survived, he suffered life-threatening respiratory distress syndrome and aspiration pneumonia and sustained injuries to his lungs and eyes.

Court documents reveal Far West's employees were not even generally informed about the hazards caused by gases found in tanks and the potential life-threatening dangers involved in entering tanks. Far West superintendent Rex Noll indicated that Far West's policy was that employees should "train themselves" and "learn to be safe on their own."

Shortly before the incident, Garrett, Gamble and Charles took an examination for certification as wastewater operators, documents said.

Far West did not provide any training or classes to assist them but gave them books and told them to study on their own time. Although they all failed the exam, Far West allowed them to continue working without proper training.

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Chris McDaniel can be reached at cmcdaniel@yumasun.com or 539-6849.