NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – A family is suing a Brooklyn cemetery, alleging that workers tried to force a grandmother’s coffin into a grave as family and friends watched in horror.
The suit was filed recently in state Supreme Court in the Bronx following the June 24 burial of Claribel Oppenheimer, 79, at The Evergreens Cemetery, according to the New York Post.
The suit alleges that the coffin opened as workers struggled to lower it into a grave that was dug too small. The workers “pushed, lifted and lowered the coffin over and over to try to get into the ground,” the suit says.
The incident left some family members crying, and at one point they were “yelled to move out of the way” as a backhoe was used to lengthen the grave, according to the suit.
Oppenheimer’s body was eventually placed in a new coffin, but the coffin was buried headfirst instead of horizontally, the suit alleges.
“I believe that the cemetery is in the business of burying people and I think the most basic thing they do every day is dig holes,” Eric Rothstein, an attorney for family members, told the Post.
Rothstein said the workers' treatment of the family was “just one more piece of an already horrific situation.”
A cemetery spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for comment from the Post.
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