The crane collapse injury attorneys at Denena & Points understand that a NYC crane inspector has lost his job and is facing the possibility of a lengthy prison term after a crane that he did not inspect collapsed and killed 7 people in 2008. The crane’s sudden collapse in 2008 left a swath of destruction across an entire block of midtown Manhattan.
Crane inspector Edward Marquette’s work log said that he had inspected the collapsed crane a few days before it collapsed. But cell phone tower records and other evidence indicate that Marquette was at home when he said he was out inspecting that crane. Indeed, records seem to reveal a pattern of falsifying work logs while the former inspector was actually safely at home.
Michael Carbone, Edward Marquette’s supervisor, has also lost his job with the NYC Department of Buildings since the fatal collapse. Just two months after the fatal crane collapse at 51st St. that killed 7 people in midtown, another crane snapped apart and collapsed in NYC, killing two people.
Investigations of the collapsed 51st St. crane showed that failed parts had been removed on the day of the deadly collapse. Some reports indicate that had Edward Marquette actually inspected the crane on the day he said he did, those critical parts would still have been in place and the former inspector might not have known anything was wrong with the crane. Our crane collapse injury attorneys argue that a thorough inspection by a competent, qualified inspector might well have caught the presence of parts that were about to fail in the crane.
Complete inspections of these towering machines that can cause such widespread damage when they malfunction or collapse is critical to public safety. Neglecting the duty to inspect towering cranes is nothing short of a betrayal of the public trust placed in the inspectors, the Department of Buildings, and the City that employs them.
As the two 2008 crane collapse tragedies in NYC reveal, a crane collapse in a crowded city or at a busy construction site can easily claim multiple lives. And injuries in those who survive the dangerous collapses can leave permanent disfigurements and disabilities.
Marquette faces the possibility of up to 21 years in prison for neglect of his duties and falsifying his work logs. Learn more about the dangers presented by crane collapses in this article by our crane collapse injury attorneys.