Trial Of Contractor Charged In Deadly Building Collapse Continues
By Mike Dougherty
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Prosecutors continued to call witnesses to the stand Wednesday in the trial of contractor Griffin Campbell. He is one of two people charged after the fatal 2013 building collapse at 22nd and Market in Center City.
The jury heard testimony from several experts, including an architect and structural engineer who say major mistakes were made during the demolition of the four-story building adjacent to the Salvation Army store, leaving nothing to support a massive brick wall that eventually fell and killed six people.
They said the proper way would have been to remove the roof, then carefully take it down one floor at a time by hand rather than knocking it down with heavy machinery.
Defense attorney Bill Hobson argues the building owner and his architect Plato Marinakos pushed Griffin Campbell to get the project done as soon as possible.
"Plato ordered Griff Campbell to get the excavator in there and speed things up. Marinakos called the shots. Marinakos was the day to day supervisor."
Still, prosecutors say it's the contractor's responsibility to ensure a safe job site and that Campbell should have known the dangers.
