The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Opening statements have begun in the manslaughter trial of three construction supervisors and a firm involved in dismantling a New York skyscraper damaged in the Sept. 11 attacks.
They’re the only people and entities criminally charged in an August 2007 blaze that killed two firefighters. Prosecutors say a litany of regulators’ oversights helped create deadly conditions.
Prosecutor Brian Fields said Monday that they committed “reckless crimes” by letting a break in a crucial firefighting water pipe go unfixed at the former Deutsche Bank building.
The defendants are Mitchel Alvo, Jeffrey Melofchik, Salvatore DePaola and subcontractor John Galt Corp. They say they’re small-time scapegoats for a fire fueled by others’ mistakes.
The tower was contaminated with toxic debris on Sept. 11. The fire was started by a worker’s careless smoking and ripped through nine floors as it was being painstakingly dismantled.