New York City: Parking garage operator identified as collapse victim | US News
The manager of a parking garage in Manhattan is believed to be the person who died in the horrific collapse, which also injured five others.
No one is missing in the collapse of the four-story garage in the Financial District on Tuesday. But the remains of manager Willis Moore, 59, still lie under the rubble, New York City Fire Department (FDNY) officials told the New York Daily News.
Firefighters and the department’s robotic dog Spot located Moore’s remains on Tuesday, officials said.
Preliminary fire service reports indicated that the Ann Street garage collapsed due to the number of vehicles on the top floor and its old age of 59. An internal memo from the department said the weight on the deck was likely too much for the structure to handle, The New York Post reports.
“There are over 50 cars on the roof,” Mayor Eric Adams said Wednesday.
“The building is structurally out of order, you think of hazardous materials that are in the garage, proper gas tanks, liquids, further complicated by the fact that there may be some electric vehicles in that garage.”
Additionally, the internal memo noted that the garage was built in 1925 during the Coolidge administration and that its old age was likely a factor.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office has said it will investigate the cause of the collapse. The office did not say whether there was any suspicion of criminal activity.
Firefighters continued their efforts Wednesday to extricate cars trapped in the pancake building. A tractor excavator with a bucket shell dug into the concrete slabs.
“We can’t reach the victim,” a firefighter told the Post, citing the instability of the structure. “It will be a lengthy operation over several days.”
The injured were working in the garage when it gave up just after 4 p.m.
A controlled demolition is underway and is expected to resume on Thursday.
Building owners paid fines for violating the code but failed to file completed repair papers for four of the citations from 2003 to 2013, according to city records. Some of the problems related to the concrete structure.
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