Michael Begay, 42, died in a construction accident Monday afternoon working at the Health Sciences Education building near the U hospital.

According to Troy Thompson, vice president of commercial operations for Big D Construction, Begay and three other iron workers fell 10 to 15 feet when a curtain wall of rebar they were working on “pulled over on top of them.”

“[Begay] was brought to our emergency department in critical condition…[and] pronounced dead at the emergency room,” said Anne Brillinger, director of public affairs for the Health Sciences Center.

The cause of death was not released, but Thompson said the fall was the probable cause of the fatal injury.

The construction workers had been trained on how to work safely while doing what they were doing, and were “performing the work as they had day in, day out,” according to Thompson.

“It’s a real unfortunate situation,” he said.

Thompson said he has never seen this happen during his 26 years of construction work.

The three other workers who were climbing the wall with Begay were all treated and released at the scene of the accident.

Tyler Peterson