City Inspector Is Charged in Crane Case

New York Times ^ | 3/20/08 | Sewell Chan

[LibWhacker]

Updated, 5:55 p.m. | A Buildings Department inspector, Edward J. Marquette, has been arrested and charged with lying to New York City authorities about inspecting the crane that collapsed on Saturday afternoon, killing seven people, injuring dozens of others and causing widespread property damage. Officials issued a stern warning that corrupt workers will be punished, but said the failure to inspect the crane on March 4 was almost certainly not a factor in the deadly collapse, which officials think may have been caused by the failure of a nylon strap, which led to a large steel collar coming loose.

Rose Gill Hearn, the commissioner of the Department of Investigation, announced the arrest at a news conference shortly after 3 p.m. near the site of the collapse, at Second Avenue and East 51st Street in the Turtle Bay section of East Midtown, as officials gave an update on the effort to repair the damage and allow people back in to 18 buildings that had to be evacuated.

According to Ms. Hearn, a call to 311 was made on March 3 reporting concerns about the stability of the crane. In response, Mr. Marquette claimed to have inspected the crane the following day. “Marquette made false statements on his route sheet indicating that he had inspected the crane, when in fact he had admitted to D.O.I. that he did not inspect the crane on March 4,” she said.

Officials emphasized that Mr. Marquette’s failure to inspect the crane was likely not a factor in the collapse of the crane last Saturday, which occurred as operators were preparing to “jump,” or extend, the crane.

[Azzurri]

Sounds like this inspector might have ticked someone off in the Soprano mob, who in turn set him up to take a hit.

[mtbopfuyn]

From the headline, I thought this would be about the fowl cranes.

I’m sure everyone will be on their toes now that they’ve been issued a stern warning.

[John Jorsett]

I wouldn’t want to be a corrupt/lazy safety inspector in New York for the next few weeks that this is going to take to blow over. Even if they can’t find anyone to blame in this specific crane case, they’re going to need to look like they’re doing something, and the easy targets are going to be paid-off/slack-butt inspectors.

[PeterPrinciple]

but said the failure to inspect the crane on March 4 was almost certainly not a factor in the deadly collapse, which officials think may have been caused by the failure of a nylon strap, which led to a large steel collar coming loose.

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So inspections are worthless.................

[AmusedBystander]

Sounds like this inspector might have ticked someone off in the Soprano mob, who in turn set him up to take a hit.

Nah. Sounds like someone IN Soprano's crew. Since Vito is gone, coulda been Paulie.

[Shermy]

“So inspections are worthless....”

That’s not what the crane owner, contractor, property owner, etc. will be telling the judge. The city’s excuse of themselves here is self-serving.

I remember reading a neighbor, a retired construction worker, said he called to complain before the accident. I bet it was that call referenced in this story.

[Emmett McCarthy]

SSHH! You can’t have the taxpaying voters hear that kind of thing!

[Leo Carpathian]

I seem to remember that it was said on TV that workers were securing second collar that bound the crane to the building structure. Something happened, collar got lose and was falling down, hit another collar that WAS holding the crane to the building structure, knocked it off and this freed the crane from extra support from the building structure and allowing it to fall.
How would inspectors prevent that? By looking over every worker's hands? Looking for blame somewhere else?