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| FILE - In this file photo taken June 5, 2013, rescue personnel search the rubble of a building that collapsed on Market Street in downtown Philadelphia, leaving six people dead. Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams on Monday, Nov. 25, 2013 said that contractor Griffin T. Campbell has been charged with third-degree murder, as well as manslaughter, in connection with the collapse. |
PHILADELPHIA
(AP) -- A cut-rate building contractor will face murder charges for a
botched demolition in downtown Philadelphia that killed six people
inside an adjacent store, officials announced Monday.
Prosecutors
called Griffin Campbell "the center of culpability" for the June
collapse, and said he ignored his client's warning the night before that
disaster was imminent.
"The tragic and
preventable collapse ... robbed our city of six amazing Philadelphians
that perished in the rubble and left an additional 13 wounded,"
Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams said at a news conference.
"The motive was greed."
Campbell, 49, had a
deadline to meet, was being paid a flat fee, and wanted to preserve as
much salvageable material as he could, leading him to cut corners,
Williams said. He charged Campbell with six counts each of third-degree
murder and involuntary manslaughter, along with other charges.
Griffin's
subcontractor, equipment operator Sean Benschop, had previously been
charged with involuntary manslaughter, and remains in custody on $1.6
million bail.
The building owner who chose
Campbell's $112,000 bid to take down three attached storefronts - when
other bids were two or three times that amount - was not charged Monday.
And his architect was given immunity in exchange for his grand jury
testimony. However, the panel has not finished its work, and Williams
declined to comment on whether owner Richard Basciano could be charged.
The
collapse occurred when an unsupported brick wall crashed down onto a
smaller Salvation Army store, trapping shoppers and workers in rubble.
Campbell was also charged with risking a catastrophe, conspiracy and
endangerment.
He was expected to surrender to
police Monday. A call to his cellphone went unanswered, and his lawyer
did not return a call for comment.
Benschop
allegedly operated heavy equipment while high on marijuana and
painkillers. In addition to the earlier charges, the grand jury charged
him Monday with criminal conspiracy.
"Mr.
Benschop had nothing to do with the planning of how that building was
coming down. He showed up to work and the contractor told him what to
do," defense lawyer Daine Grey said Monday.
Williams agreed that Campbell alone chose the demolition method and supervised the job site.
Rather
than work from the top down and brace unsupported walls along the way,
he instead had workers remove the building's facade, and then take out
the lateral floor joints for salvage. That left the brick side walls
unsupported.
Meanwhile, heavy equipment being
used at the scene and trains running underneath the site caused
vibrations that increased the risk of a collapse, they said.
"This
was a clearly hazardous demolition, not just on the day of the
accident, but on the days and weeks leading up to the accident," said
lawyer Robert Mongeluzzi, who represents several victims' families.
"The
shame of this accident is that this (demolition process) was debated
back and forth between STB (Basciano's company) and the Salvation Army,"
he said, referring to emails that show the collapse was predicted while
the parties bickered. "This was a game of chicken in which neither STB
nor the Salvation Army wanted to blink."
Basciano,
a commercial developer once dubbed the pornography king of New York's
Times Square, was razing the run-down buildings to make way for
redevelopment. His architect, Plato Marinakos, who had secured the
demolition permit, testified before the grand jury after he was promised
immunity.
Several lawsuits have been filed
against Basciano, Campbell, Benschop and others. The victims' lawyers
also accuse the city of lax oversight of the demolition process, but the
city is generally immune from such lawsuits. One of the shoppers killed
was 24-year-old Anne Bryan, the daughter of the city treasurer.
The most seriously injured survivor, 52-year-old Mariya Plekan, lost both legs after spending nearly 13 hours in the rubble.
