DETROIT ? A painter working at the Detroit Lions’ new stadium fell 150 feet to his death Tuesday when his hydraulic lift tipped over.

Gjon Gojcaj, 42, fell into the first tier of seats at Ford Field, cousin Jason Gojcaj said. Police Lt. Janice Butler confirmed the death of a worker at the stadium but didn’t release further details.

Brian Dye, a painter at Ford Field who works for a different company, said the lift tipped over and the basket Gjon Gojcaj was in fell into the seats upside down.

Construction was shut down for the day and was to resume today, said Tom Lewand, chief operating officer for the Lions.

The worker was employed by Akron-based Thomarios Painting, which the state inspected at Ford Field earlier this summer and issued two citations.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether those citations which concerned scaffolding were related to Tuesday’s accident.

Jason Gojcaj described his cousin as a hard worker with five children and said he had been with Thomarios Painting for about a month.

The 65,000-seat stadium is to open Aug. 24 when the Lions play host to the Pittsburgh Steelers in an exhibition game.