City: Inspector faked crane site paperwork

[2008]

Source: WABC

NEW YORK (WABC) -- A New York City buildings inspector is accused of falsely claiming he inspected that crane that collapsed on the East Side, killing seven people. Now he is facing charges.

His arrest was announced at a news conference Thursday afternoon by Building Department Commissioner Patricia Lancaster.

At the news conference, city officials said that inspector Edward Marquette admitted to the Department of Investigation that he did not inspect the crane, although he claimed to have done so on March 4th, days before the deadly collapse.

He was charged with falsifying a business record and offering a false record.

Read more: http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local&id=6032573

[madaboutharry]

1. That is just unbelievable.

I am constantly amazed at the vast number of jerks in this world.

[Warpy]

2. Lazy bastard was taking payoffs

and faking his paperwork.

Bet he was stupid enough to be out of town spending some of those payoffs on the day he supposedly inspected the site.

[Burma Jones]

3. What's funny is that the inspector was paid $47,000 per year

Now, if you're paying someone in the NY Metropolitan Area under $50K per year in a job that just screams gimme kickbacks, what the hell are you going to expect. Does the city treat his salary the same way a Restaurant treats a Wait Staff member's base, as something to which tips will be added?

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/20/city-inspector-is-charged-in-crane-case/index.html?hp

[acmavm]

5. Are you being serious? What should someone expect? Is that question

for real or what?

No fucking matter what someone is being paid, people have a right to expect honesty.

Are you for real?

[Burma Jones]

9. Yes, I'm for real and I lived in New York for years

and I think I raise a very valid point.

[dysfunctional press]

12. is it a full-time position? or is the guy double-dipping with another job?

but you're correct- $47K in nyc is a pittance- it should probably be twice that.

[acmavm]

13. I don't know about a 'valid point' but it does say a lot about the way that

you think.

[Burma Jones]

15. Why would you attack me, have you lived in New York? Do you know anything about New York?

Anyway, I'll have to put you on ignore because you went all nasty without any provocation and really insulted me.

Gai kaken oifen yam.......although you would have to travel.

[acmavm]

17. I don't care if I'm on ignore. Especially by someone who can put a dollar

value on honesty. I didn't have any friggin' idea that it was a geographical issue either. I mean, who knew that you should expect underpaid New York officials to be crooked lazy bastards that have a excuse to cost 7 people their lives?

Learn something new every day. Unhappily it's frequently something ignorant posted by someone determined to defend that ignorance all the way to hell and gone.

[Occulus]

18. I thinks the point is,

even given housing prices and such in NYC, asking "how much can you expect for $X/year" is more than a little bit cold, considering that seven corpses have just barely cooled.

[Burma Jones]

19. Well, I wouldn't post this in a memorial site for any of the seven victims

but this is a website that deals with politics and public policy and that's what I addressed.....

I am more sensitive in The Lounge.

The poster I now have on ignore suggests that I am corrupt because I point out an obvious problem. I have put her on ignore, there she'll stay and I will not revisit this thread.

[MH1]

14. If it's a full-time job in NY paying only 47K per year

I don't know how someone could live on it, and how in the hell they could expect to find someone both competent and honest.

I'm guessing it's not full time though. But you are right, it is a very valid question to ask. Doesn't absolve the guy in any case, but could be a pointer to severe stupidity in the system.

[AP]

21. I agree. Train this position up, give it power, and give it a good salary.

[benld74]

4. DUMB ASS!!!

[RamboLiberal]

6. Arrested

A city inspector has been charged with lying about checking on a construction crane that later collapsed, killing seven people in a dense Manhattan neighborhood, officials said Thursday.

Edward Marquette was arrested Wednesday on charges of falsifying business records, buildings Commissioner Patricia Lancaster said.

"We will not tolerate this kind of behavior at the Department of Buildings," she said.

A complaint about the crane was logged March 4 to a city hot line, officials said, and Marquette said he inspected it. It was later determined he had not.

However, Lancaster said it is very unlikely an inspection would have prevented the accident because the parts of the crane that failed were not on site on March 4.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/20/national/main3955196.shtml

[truthisfreedom]

7. So it would still have failed. Why wasn't someone sent out to inspect the parts of the crane that

failed?

[DLnyc]

8. Corruption is well engrained in NYC.

It is common, from what I've been told, for contractors to include the cost of bribes to get inspectors to do inspections. These are more to get the inspection done in a timely manner, not to fake the inspection. And what I've heard of applies to small, private renovations, not large-scale projects. But one can only imagine the varieties and extremes of corruption that occur in general.

Corruption, sad to say, is deeply ingrained in NYC and in the state. Not all that is evil is purely republican.

[Omaha Steve]

10. Read this in GD

The crane was being readied to take it up another level. Had an inspection been done, that would not have taken place. NO DEATHS or injuries!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3038538

[Burma Jones]

20. An inspection WAS done, after the missed inspection

<snip>
Officials believe that the accident occurred when a six-ton steel collar being fitted around the crane’s tower at the 18th floor, as part of the bracing operation, broke free and plummeted the length of the tower, shearing off other braces already in place at the ninth floor. That destabilized the crane and allowed it to topple onto buildings to the south.

But Ms. Lancaster said that the sections and bracing materials added that day were not at the construction site on March 4.

Those materials had arrived at the site by March 14, however, when buildings records showed that an inspector named Frank Damiani visited the project and signed a document saying that he inspected three tower sections that were to be installed the next day.

Officials said they verified that the March 14 inspection was made.

</snip>



http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/21/nyregion/21crane.html

[dysfunctional press]

11. shouldn't he be facing murder charges?

negligent homicide at the least.

if someone dies as a result of/during a crime, isn't it supposed to be murder?

[mtnester]

16. This is terrible and sad, but I gotta say

it will be a Law & Order episode next season or the one after, I betcha. It has all the makings.

Sad sad sad..he ought to be charged with manslaughter too...or negligent homicide (or something)

[asteroid2003QQ47]

22. Kill the messenger!

new_beawr drags reality into the light of day for all to see
and is driven into hiding?
Shame on his critics! I worked heavy construction on the East coast
for many years and honest inspectors are few and far between.
I remember contractors en masse refusing to bid on a job if their workmanship would
be scrutinized by a certain inspector who was known for his honesty.
I remember that inspector refusing to take a contractor's gift of a months
all expense paid Florida vacation that included a new Cadillac that awaited his arrival.
It was an unusually severe winter and most inspectors would happily abandoned their post
but not Hoppe.