1 Killed, 8 Injured When Grates Fall at Race Ceremony

One man was killed and eight other people were injured, one critically, Sunday morning when steel ventilation gratings they were standing on collapsed, dropping them 25 feet to the bottom floor of a parking structure in Redondo Beach.

The nine victims--most of whom were runners who had just finished the beach city’s 10th annual Super Bowl Sunday 10K Run--were part of a crowd of thousands waiting for an awards ceremony climaxing the race. They were enjoying refreshments and band music in a park-like area on the roof of the two-story city-owned parking lot when the accident occurred at 9:28 a.m., Redondo Beach Fire Department officials said.

The festivities are usually held at the city’s Seaside Lagoon, but were moved further inland this year to the Pier Plaza parking structure because the lagoon area was damaged by storm waves two weeks ago.

Fire Battalion Chief Pat Aust, one of the first people on the scene, said the man who died was probably the first to hit the pavement. He broke the fall of the others, who landed on him in a pile, probably saving them from more serious injury.

Medical Aid Nearby

Three doctors and five nurses from a first aid tent about 100 yards from the accident scene, along with about two dozen paramedics and firefighters, helped the injured, who were taken to hospitals for treatment of fractures and cuts, Aust said.

Robert Arthur Bode, 36, of Tujunga, died at South Bay Hospital.

In critical condition at Harbor General Hospital was Jim Chen, 40, of Palos Verdes Estates. He was being treated for a collapsed lung and fractures.

Less seriously injured were Kevin Adair, 29, and Cindy Adair, 29, both of Carlsbad; Jacki Chen, 38, of Palos Verdes Estates; Sharon Feldman, 31, and Hector Gutierez, 36, both of Inglewood; Dennis Heitkamp, 34, of Redondo Beach, and John LaFrano, 47, of Fullerton.

The gratings covering the vent were not blocked off and had been walked and stood upon by a few thousand people after the race, authorities said.

The nine people were standing on three grates, measuring 4 feet by 4 feet, near the southeast corner of the structure when apparently one of two metal bars that supported the grates gave way, dropping the victims to the pavement two stories below.

Cause of the accident was under investigation, fire officials said.

“It’s as though nine people were standing on a trap door and they disappeared,” race spokesman Deke Houlgate said.

Redondo Beach Police Lt. Steve Murdoch said the grates are not designed to be stood upon and said he did not know why they were not roped off.

Murdoch, who signed up for the race but dropped out at the last minute, said he walked on the gratings that morning as he watched the festivities.

“I could easily have been one of the victims,” he said.

Race organizer Ernie O’Dell said he and other race officials inspected the parking structure while planning the post-race ceremony and saw no potential hazard from the gratings.

“We looked at it and stepped on it and just trusted it as strong grill work,” said O’Dell, executive director of the Redondo Beach Chamber of Commerce. “We didn’t think of it as being frail or delicate.”

O’Dell said he has no plans to cancel next year’s race.

“The event didn’t cause the grill to fail or the accident,” he said. “Consequently, we can’t see any reason to cancel it for the future over this freak accident. We feel very sorry and very bad, but canceling the event would serve no purpose.”

Many people at the festivities said they did not even know anything had gone wrong until police cars and ambulances arrived.

“You didn’t see anybody rushing over to a place (when it happened),” said Stephen McLendon, a runner from Santa Maria. “The band played on, they didn’t even know what happened.”

This year, more than 10,000 people ran the 10-kilometer (6.2-mile) race over a looping course near the ocean, race officials said.