$6.1 million settlement reached in wrongful death lawsuit over Youngstown explosion
The family of a Penn Hills man killed in an explosion in Youngstown, Ohio has reached a multi-million dollar settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit.
27-year-old Akil Drake died last year after an office building in downtown Youngstown exploded when a scrap removal crew cut a natural gas line.
Nine other people were injured in the blast.
Drake's family then sued the building owner and the gas company.
CBS affiliate WKBN reported Tuesday that Drake's family settled the lawsuit for more than $6.1 million.
The NTSB said that the four-person scrap removal crew was working in the basement of the Realty Building and didn't know the gas lines were in service. A crewmember told investigators he cut into one of the pipes he had been told was dead.
The NTSB said its investigators found the service line was inactive, but it had been pressurized with natural gas at the time of the cut.