New York City officials expand collapse inquiry as families demand answers
The building crashed down into a pit where construction crews were excavating next door on Wednesday afternoon. Eight people were killed, including two children, and 18 others injured.
NEW YORK — The outcry over a deadly building collapse in Brooklyn this week has zeroed in on possible systemic failures as city officials examined other building sites connected to the companies in charge of a neighboring construction site.
The building, at 1321 Flatbush Ave., crashed down into a pit where construction crews were excavating next door on Wednesday afternoon. Eight people were killed, including two children, and 18 others were injured.
On Friday, at an unrelated news conference with Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the buildings commissioner said the city had hired an engineering firm to produce an independent report on what happened.
The commissioner, Ahmed Tigani, also said the city was looking into 160 building sites connected to the companies in charge of the project, without specifying which ones. Mamdani reiterated his message since the collapse that “if we find anyone that has violated the law, we will hold them fully accountable.”
At the same time, other city officials and affected families were holding their own news conference, demanding answers and accountability.
“Since Wednesday afternoon, our community has been living through a nightmare,” said Farah Louis, the City Council member representing the district where the collapse happened. Her voice cracked as she noted that children had died — cousins, ages 9 and 10 — and said that she had spoken to a man whose pregnant wife was pulled from the rubble. “It’s a painful reminder that these families lost everything,” she said.
Louis broke down in tears as New York Attorney General Letitia James urged her to be strong.
“Grief without accountability is not enough,” Louis continued, her voice growing stronger. “Buildings do not simply collapse without systemic failures, especially when records show a building with nearly 100 open violations sitting next to an excavation site, cited for violating a stop work order.”
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez has already said that his office was working with the Department of Buildings and the Department of Investigation on a criminal investigation.
Surveillance video footage obtained and verified by the New York Times from a business across the street shows the apartment building suddenly begin to lean before crumbling into a cloud of dust.
Julie Menin, the City Council speaker, who was at the news conference with the families, emphasized how young many of the victims were. They ranged in age from 9 to 31.
“We will ensure that their names are never forgotten,” Menin said. “We also will ensure that we strengthen the building codes, the building rules and regulations.”
Zariah Coleman, 13, who lived in an adjacent building that lost a wall in the collapse, said at the news conference that her family had long felt shakes in the building during the nearby construction.
James embraced Zariah, smoothing her hair as the girl cried. James said that she was monitoring the internet and social media for scams looking to take advantage of the situation and also called for setting up a fund to support the victims.
“The families in this community deserve answers about what led to this collapse,” James said. “I have faith that the investigators will follow the facts and that anyone found responsible will be held to account.”
James said that elected officials would support a budget increase if the department needed to hire more investigators. Menin noted that the Buildings Department had over an 8% vacancy rate and said the city had to make sure that those roles were filled.
“We must meet this moment,” Menin said.
This article originally appeared in the New York Times.
