"They Came Down Screaming"

Witness To The NYC Crane Collapse Recalls Moments Of Terror; Outraged Neighbors Demand Answers

(CBS)  This story was written by CBSNews.com's Scott Conroy.

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Franklin Ramos was waiting for the bus to take his son to school shortly after 8 a.m. on Manhattan's Upper East Side when he was suddenly startled out of his morning routine.

"The noise was so terrible," Ramos told CBSNews.com. "The weight that came down was very bad. There was a lot of screaming-women and everything. Plus the construction guys that were at the top of the building came off."

Ramos watched as a construction crane broke apart in two pieces, with one section falling on the traffic below. He said he stood by helplessly as at least two construction workers plummeted from the top of the building.

"They came down screaming," he said. " … the others, they ducked down. They were trying to hold on."

As the NYPD sealed off the area around 91st Street and First Avenue, shocked local residents gathered around the yellow tape. Many were asking the same question: less than three months after another deadly crane collapse in the city, how could this happen again?

"It seems like the greed of the developers wins out over safety, and they throw these buildings up as fast as they can," Wendy Victor, who lives nearby at 85th and York Street, said. " ….and so yeah, I'm outraged."

Several local residents told CBSNews.com that they had eyed the crane warily in recent days, since it seemed unsafe.

"I knew what it was right away because I never liked the look of that crane," Jaclyn Taeshler said.

Lawrence Robinson said that he was so concerned with the safety hazard the crane seemed to present that he used to go out of his way to avoid walking past the street corner where it once stood. In the aftermath of yet another deadly crane accident in his city, Robinson is looking for answers.

"This is getting crazy now," Robinson said. "I don't know what's going to have to be done, but something better be done."

[rluhlman]

As a Construction Manager with over 40 years in the business, the contributing cause for this type of accident is negligence on the part of the owner, the inspectors and the contractors. The awful fact is that it didn''t have to happen - God help the victim''s and their families.

[oldpilot954]

I''m not much on conspiracy theories but I would expect a look for possible sabotage since this seems to be a trend.

[juliemd]

There''s no sabotage here...just tragic negligence and ineptitude. All in the name of development. Sad and true.

[greeneyes222]

I agree, this is negligence. Cranes don''t just fall down, and crane workers are generally skilled.

[jt92202]

This seems to be happening more and more these days, someone needs to be inspecting these cranes when they go up and throughout the building process.

I don''t understand why the people in this article that says they knew this was going to happen and they didn''t like the looks of it so they stayed away from walking near it didn''t call in to the States Labor and Industries dept to report it. We had one go down in Bellevue WA last year and killed one man that was sleeping in his apartment. Again people said they thought it was leaning too far to one side but nobody reported it. That one was the first of many that has came down since last year.

I don''t think I would know if one was leaning wrong or not but if I suspected it looked unsafe I would be making some calls.

I hope nobody got hurt here but it sounds like it might not be good news for some families!!

[feelfree4u]

Re: "It seems like the greed of the developers wins out over safety,"

It''s the Amerikkkan way.

[lloydbest1]

Posted by dmw1167 at 06:37 PM : May 30, 2008

Give it time, it''s early days yet.
the fact is greed is a contributing factor. When you add incompetence (in some cases), negligence, shoddy inspection and a "gotta get the job done no matter what" mentality to the mix; such accidents as this one become inevitable - regardless of which political party holds the reigns.

[lizardbate]

It is all " Bush''s " fault!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, yeah! And Dickie Cheney was involved too.

[slim1h2o]

I knew what it was right away because I never liked the look of that crane," Jaclyn Taeshler said.

Well,,if you knew it didn''t look right, Why in the hell did you not complain about it!

Seems like you just might be held accountable for this "accident"

[papp531]

Im waiting for the Hoax King Al Gore to tell us dummys that global warming caused this!!

[papp531]

To oldpilot954, I agree sabotage maybe possible,The media trying to get the attention off the fool there trying to push into the White House,I smell BO get it?

[nothappyatall]

"his seems to be happening more and more these days, someone needs to be inspecting these cranes when they go up and throughout the building process."

It WAS inspected, THREE times this month, they found no violations, a lousy WELD on a critical component was the cause.