A Philadelphia contractor has been charged with six counts of third-degree murder in the collapse of a building during demolition last June that killed six people in the adjacent building, according to a Reuters report (for the full Reuters item, see: "Contractor charged with murder after deadly Philadelphia collapse," by Dan Kelley). NBC News has a passerby's street video of the collapse occurring here ("New video shows deadly Philly building collapse").
Forty-nine-year-old Griffing Campbell, owner of Campbell Construction, was also charged with reckless endangerment, criminal conspiracy, and causing a catastrophe, Reuters reports. Earlier this month, federal OSHA officials fined Campbell Construction $397,000 for safety violations that led to the disaster.
Reports Reuters: "The June 5 collapse sent piles of bricks and lumber onto a neighboring Salvation Army store, trapping shoppers and workers. In addition to the six people who were killed, another 13 were pulled from the rubble, some with severe head injuries. One victim lost both legs."
The grand jury handing down the criminal indictment found that Campbell used unsafe methods to take down the building in order to cut costs. Said Philadelphia DA Seth Williams: "It would appear, quite frankly, that the motive is greed."
