Pepco is being sued in federal court after a piece of equipment fell and killed a construction worker making repairs below.

The worker, Seneca Eldredge, of Caroline County, was in Prince George’s County replacing insulators on a Pepco utility tower when, on July 11, 2009, a transmission line above the one where he was working fell and he was “squished like a bug,” said Dick Phillips, attorney for Eldredge’s family. Eldredge, who was in his late 30s, according to Phillips, died before emergency help arrived on the scene.