Courtesy: Clay Miller

The scaffolding that the workers were on at the time of their fatal fall.

DALLAS – Attorneys blasted a North Texas contractor on Monday for safety problems that they said led to the deaths of three Dallas construction workers.

On Sunday, a shocking find reaffirmed a Dallas family's fears. Authorities were alerted after a young couple boating Sunday afternoon saw a foot surface in the Arkansas River.

"We drove back by and his hand comes up out of the water," said Michelle Taylor, a witness on the boat. "It was scary."

The body is believed to be one of three North Texas construction workers killed in early April.

On April 2, scaffolding placed underneath the Interstate 630 bridge for a water pipe project snapped free plunging three Dallas men into the chilly, rushing waters of the Arkansas River.

Now, less than three weeks later, families of Juan Manuel Flores and Eleazer Lopez have sued their Roanoke employer, Oscar Renda Contracting. They are also suing its project foreman and the company that built the scaffolding.

"This thin piece of metal failed and pulled apart almost like a paper clip," said Clay Miller, an attorney for the workers, as he described what he thinks led to the fatal fall.

Miller said a half-inch strip of metal was overloaded while holding at least 15,000 pounds of equipment and dangling over the river. Plus, Miller added, no other chains or connections were in place suspending the scaffolding.

The suit states, among other things, that the scaffolding was unstable, the company failed to secure it and it did not provide the three workers personal protective equipment.

"They were supposed to have life vests,” Miller said. “But, unfortunately the type that was provided to them was the type where you had to pull a rip cord; and when they hit that river, there was no chance for them to survive.”

News 8 discovered that OSHA cited the contractor in 2006 for failing to provide personal protective equipment.

This accident, attorneys insisted, didn't have to happen.

Two calls to the company Monday afternoon were not returned as of 6 p.m.

E-mail jwhitely@wfaa.com