Scaffolding Falls, Killing Three

Scaffolding from a landmark skyscraper fell onto a busy downtown street Saturday, crushing cars and leaving three people dead and four others critically injured, a Fire Department spokesman said.

Unusually high winds were whipping through the area, just before 2 p.m., but it was too soon to say if that caused 25 feet of scaffolding to fall from the 43rd floor of the John Hancock Building, Fire Department Cmdr. Tim Stokes said.

"We can only speculate wind had something to do with it," Stokes said.

There were wind gusts of up to 58 mph at Miegs Field, a downtown airport, around the time of the collapse, National Weather Service meteorologist Robin Smith said.

Three cars traveling on a street on the south side of the building were crushed by the debris. Those killed were in the cars, Stokes said.

Glass also rained down to the streets below, which are typically bustling on the weekend with residents and tourists. In addition to the four critically injured people, two others suffered less serious injuries, Stokes said.

The scaffolding had been erected so crews, who weren't believed to be working Saturday, could complete tuckpointing and building cleaning, Fire Commissioner James Joyce said.

Joyce said the scaffolding that fell was on the Michigan Avenue side of the building, but swung around before it fell. He said the city Building Department would investigate.

He said the accident "should serve as a warning," to owners of other buildings with scaffolding. "This is a dangerous wind," he said.

Streets around the building were closed and traffic rerouted because of fears of more falling debris, and crowds gathered as winds continued to gust and a light snow fell.

Luciano Miceli, 50, who was working on the 4th Floor of the Westin Hotel, just north of the Hancock building, said something also broke a window in the hotel.

"I heard a loud bang and I thought it was a truck in an accident," he said. "I looked out and I saw glass all over the lobby."

The 100-story Hancock building, the city's third-tallest building, anchors the north end of the city's busy Michigan Avenue shopping district.