Officials begin criminal probe into Central Valley farmworker (17 year old pruning grape vine) death

http://www.mercurynews.com/crime/ci_9420503

By Garance Burke ASSOCIATED PRESS
Article Launched: 05/29/2008 07:24:33 PM PDT

FRESNO — Local investigators are probing whether a labor contractor may be criminally liable for the death of a young, pregnant farmworker who collapsed in a vineyard two weeks ago.

Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez, 17, was pruning grape vines at a San Joaquin County vineyard in 100-degree heat when she fell to the ground the afternoon of May 14.

Relatives say supervisors recommended that she rest in a hot van and be revived with rubbing alcohol before she was taken to a Lodi medical clinic, nearly two hours after she fell ill. Only after her death did doctors realize she was two months' pregnant.

California State Attorney General Jerry Brown said Thursday an investigator from his office was assisting in the county's probe, along with the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health.

A division official said Jimenez's employer, Merced Farm Labor, had been issued three citations in 2006 for exposing workers to heat stroke, failing to train workers on heat stress prevention and not installing toilets at the work site.

The Atwater company has not paid the $2,250 it owes in fines, said agency spokesman Dean Fryer.

FULL story at link.