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Construction Crews Resume Work In NYC On Monday

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Jun 2, 2008 1:43 pm US/Eastern

Construction Crews Resume Work In NYC On Monday

Manhattan DA Looking Into Possible Criminal Negligence

Reporting
Magee Hickey
NEW YORK (CBS) ― Crane operations at most construction sites around the city resumed Monday, after being suspended following the fatal Upper East Side crane collapse on May 30. Forensic investigators are still trying to determine what toppled the crane that took the lives of two construction workers.

The Manhattan DA's office is looking into whether criminal negligence played a part in the deadly collapse.

Two lanes have reopened to traffic on First Avenue. East 91st Street remains closed.

Over the weekend, all jumping, erecting and dismantling operations for the tower cranes installed across the city were suspended, however, workers were allowed Monday to erect, dismantle, or jump tower cranes, with the exception of the Kodiak tower cranes.

Acting Commissioner LiMandri ordered workers to stop using Kodiak tower cranes until they are inspected and a thorough review of their maintenance records is complete.

There are eight Kodiak cranes in the city, five of which were actually in use at until the accident. The suspended cranes are located at 123 Washington Street, 245 10th Avenue, 400 East 67th Street, 808 Columbus Avenue, and the crash site at 335 East 91st Street.

Crews worked through the night Sunday to shore up the building mangled in the tragedy while neighborhood residents left temporarily homeless held a candlelight vigil and began a series of prayers.

They prayed for themselves and also for the families of the two construction workers killed by the crane, 30-year-old Donald Leo and 27-year-old Ramadan Kurtaj.

On Staten Island Sunday a wake was held for Leo, the crane operator who was about to get married.

"You know, two accidents in the past couple of months they should look into it, make sure no one else gets hurt. But everyone is, we're praying for the family," said family friend George Torres.

The Manhattan District Attorney is now investigating because the doomed crane could be the same one that cracked at another site. It may have been improperly welded, then set up on 91st Street.

And there is a new piece of the puzzle. A photo shows paper jammed in the turn-table of the doomed crane.

"We just can't have this constant stream of accidents," Mayor Bloomberg said.

Though the mayor admits safety comes first, he said construction must continue, with the exceptions of four sites with Kodiak cranes identical to the one that collapsed on May 30.

Those cranes are under a stop work order.

Immediate goals include getting traffic moving through here and getting everybody back into their apartments.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.