Well-known Beresford building contractor Jean-Guy Boudreau was killed when a 300-kilogram door framed with large windows fell on him at a construction site on July 4, 2016, a coroner's inquest in Bathurst heard Tuesday.
Witnesses testified the three-metre high structure was knocked off its rack, after it had just been delivered to a home Boudreau, 68, was renovating, by a strong gust of wind. It fell on Boudreau, hitting him on the head and knocking him unconscious.
His colleagues found him still breathing, his body underneath the weight of the structure.
He was on the ground, in the driveway of Bernard and Therese Aubé in Beresford, where his company, Beresford Housing, had been hired to do renovations.
Witnesses testified he was unconscious and there was blood coming out of his nose and mouth. Boudreau was taken to the hospital, but doctors were not able to save him.
The courthouse heard from eight witnesses who provided evidence to presiding coroner Steve Gibson and a jury to help determine the facts surrounding Bourdreau's death.
Lorenzo Brent, who worked for Boudreau at the time of the accident, testified employees had removed the straps securing the window to a rack before they planned to bring it to the back of the house to install.
They also removed the middle part of the structure, to facilitate the transport, since it weighed about 100 kg.
But then, Brent testified, all the employees went on break.
No protective straps
Lorenzo said no one had seen the need to leave protective straps in place while they were gone, but that he thought of putting in temporary ones moments before the accident happened.
When they all returned to the job, Boudreau was standing in front of the structure.
Everyone also was at least three metres away.
That's when, Brent said, he started to see the window coming down.
He said he yelled at Boudreau to, "get out of there, the window is falling," but it was too late.
Brent testified that the window knocked Boudreau to the ground, bounced and fell again to the ground, hitting Boudreau a second time. Brent yelled for help.
Michel Noel, a carpenter who worked with Boudreau and one of the eight witnesses who testified Tuesday, said when he heard someone yell to call 911 he thought it was a joke. But when Noel went outside and found Boudreau underneath the window, he said "the world stopped, everything moved slowly."
The other witness who testified on Tuesday included the homeowners, the window delivery driver, the window seller and the regional coroner in Bathurst.
'Always ready to help'
Boudreau helped build the Beresford Mall and subdivisions in the area, like Bella-Vista. He was known in his northern New Brunswick community as someone who was always ready to lend a hand and put a little bit of himself into each project he was a part of.
CBC News spoke with Beresford Mayor Jean-Guy Grant, a close friend of Boudreau's for 40 years.
"Jean-Guy was a businessman, but he always had a special touch to what he built," Grant said.
"Jean-Guy was always ready to help anybody who asked for help."
Grant said he still thinks of Boudreau every time they pass by something Boudreau constructed.
"He was proud of what he was building. He wasn't in business just to make money."
Grant said he hopes the coroner's investigation will help prevent future accidents.
The inquest into Boudreau's death comes at the end of a two-year investigation by WorkSafeNB.
The inquest will continue at the Bathurst Courthouse on Wednesday.
The jury will hear from three more witnesses Wednesday morning, including the doctor and WorkSafeNB. The jury will deliberate in the afternoon and will determine whether the New Brunswick coroner needs to make any recommendations to prevent a similar tragedy from happening.