Family of Worker Killed in St. Paul Sewer Sues

Joe Harlow, who drowned with Dave Yasis in a downpour last July, was wrongly put in a dangerous situation.

The family of one of the two sewer workers who died in July after being swept from St. Paul's storm tunnels into the Mississippi River has filed a wrongful-death suit against the city and the firm hired to oversee work in the tunnels.

Harry Sieben, attorney for the family of Joe Harlow, said Friday that an expert he'd hired to review the case concluded: "Very simply, the work should not have occurred on the day that it was likely to rain."

Harlow, 34, of Plainview, Minnesota, and Dave Yasis, 23, of Maplewood, were killed when a sudden downpour swept them away before they could climb up a sewer shaft in the Frogtown neighborhood.