Hempstead worker's death investigated

New York City police and a federal safety agency are investigating the Monday death of a Hempstead construction worker who fell to the pavement after a lift he was working on was hit by a bus in Queens.

Cesar Cepedes, 44, was killed when the top of an MTA bus hit his lift about 11:40 p.m. near the intersection of Sutphin Boulevard and Archer Avenue in Jamaica, an NYPD spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Police said Cepedes was on the lift, working under an overpass, when the top of the bus "inadvertently struck" the lift, sending him falling to the pavement.

Cepedes was rushed to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead with severe head trauma.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a federal agency that oversees workplace safety, also is investigating, a spokesman for the agency said Wednesday.

The police spokeswoman said the driver of the bus stayed at the scene and was not charged.

MTA spokesman Charles Seaton said the bus driver underwent blood and alcohol testing, a standard procedure for any type of incident or accident involving the authority's motor-vehicle operators.

Those results would not be available for several days, he said.