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U.S. NEWSSaturday 31 October 2015
Building under demolition partially collapses in NYC; 1 dead
DAVID B. CARUSO
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — The inte-
rior of a Manhattan build-
ing being demolished to
make way for a luxury hotel
caved in Friday, killing one
construction worker and
trapping another beneath
the rubble for three hours
before he was rescued, of-
ficials said.
The debris formed a V-
shaped cavity when it col-
lapsed and the worker was
trapped at the bottom of
the V — the most difficult
place to extract someone
because it is so unstable,
fire officials said. The worker
was in serious but stable
condition after emergency
crews using special tools
dug him out. A doctor at-
tended to him while he was
in the rubble.
“The building is, of course,
a very dangerous place to
work,” Fire Commissioner
Daniel Nigro said.
The collapse was reported
just before 10:30 a.m. at
a site on West 38th Street
where workers have been
demolishing two adjoining
buildings, floor-by-floor, for
several months. Of the 19
workers on site, 17 escaped
Report: Border agents used stun guns on fleeing suspects
LOS ANGELES (AP) — U.S.
border authorities fired stun
guns at least 70 times over
four years at people who
were running away, even
though there was no strug-
gle or clear indication that
agents were in danger, a
newspaper reported Fri-
day.
At least six times, agents
used the weapons against
people who were trying to
climb a border fence and
get back into Mexico.
The Los Angeles Times
(http://lat.ms/1M5U2GF
Firefighters gather at the site where a building being demolished ish the site and had been
to make way for a luxury boutique hotel partially caved in, kill- cited for excessive debris
ing one construction worker and trapping at least one other be- on Aug. 25 but nothing
neath the rubble in midtown Manhattan, Friday, Oct. 30, 2015, more serious. There was no
in New York. stop-work order, though
the engineer on Thursday
Associated Press had requested a work-stop
until the building could be
uninjured. The names of the brick town house. The inte- further shored, officials said. the project about a month
injured and dead weren’t rior of the building was in- It’s not clear if that work
immediately released. tact, and officials said there was happening Friday.
It’s not clear what caused was no risk to the public. “We’re committed to a full
the collapse, which hap- Buildings officials said the investigation of all the other
pened in the smaller of the company had all the nec- facts related to this,” said
two buildings, a five-story essary permits to demol- Rich Chandler, commis-
sioner of the Department of
Buildings.
According to buildings de-
partment records, the site
is owned by Fortuna LLC. A
woman who answered the
phone at Fortuna Realty
Group’s office declined
to comment and referred
calls to Northeast Service
Interiors, a demolition com-
pany. Northeast said its
owners were at the site and
couldn’t immediately re-
spond to a telephone call.
According to Fortuna’s
website, it acquired the
property in late 2012 and
was planning a 27-story,
170-room luxury boutique
hotel there.
Robert Bankston, a demo-
lition contractor who for-
) also said three people Border Protection officials. charge as a way to end
had died after being hit by It found that most of the confrontations quickly and
Tasers wielded by border people subjected to Tasers safely.
agents or customs officers. had been caught crossing The program started with
Two people were shocked the U.S.-Mexico border or a pilot project in Texas and
while they were hand- were suspected of being devices were widely distrib-
cuffed, and two were in the country illegally, not uted to agents beginning
hit with five cycles of the fleeing arrest on more seri- in 2010.
weapon, even though the ous charges. Customs and Border Pro-
agency’s policy says no The nation’s largest law en- tection Commissioner R.
one should receive more forcement agency, which Gil Kerlikowske issued a
than three. oversees the Border Pa- new use-of-force policy last
trol and inspectors at ports year. Now, agents are in-
The Times examined 450 of entry, decided in 2008 structed to use Tasers only
uses of Tasers from 2010 to to supply agents with the when a suspect poses an
2013 that were document- hand-held devices that de- imminent threat and to be
ed by U.S. Customs and liver a paralyzing electric particularly cautious when
merly worked on the site,
said the two neighboring
buildings were sound when
the project began.
“It wasn’t like the build-
ings were falling down,”
Bankston said.
He said his company left
ago amid a financial dis-
agreement with the gen-
eral contractor.
At least 60 firefighters re-
sponded to the collapse.
Capt. Dominic Vertucci
said it was a dangerous
and prolonged rescue be-
cause of the fragile way
the debris settled.
New York Police Depart-
ment Sgt. Michael Edwards
said the trapped worker
was conscious and able to
squeeze the hands of res-
cue crews, but he seemed
to be in pain.
“He was cooperative,”
Edwards said. “He wasn’t
panicking.”
Edwards and other crew
members said they were
relieved by the rescue.
“It’s a feeling of elation,” he
said. “The rest of us want to
get out without being stuck
in the collapse as well.”q
subjects are running.
The Border Patrol and other
law enforcement agencies
have become more re-
strained in using Tasers, Ker-
likowske said, even though
he still believes “the good
far outweighs the bad”
with the weapons.
“You’re seeing much less of
the Taser being used when
someone is in a precarious
position, or fleeing,” said
Kerlikowske, a former po-
lice chief in Seattle. “I think
we’ve learned a lot, and so
has law enforcement.”q