2 Killed as Tower Collapses at Construction Site

Two workmen were killed Monday when a steel elevator tower collapsed at an eight-story building under construction in Long Beach, dropping them about 75 feet to the ground.

The scaffolding may not have been properly bolted to the building, Long Beach Fire Department Capt. Brad Wilson said. “We didn’t see any pins or bolts where there were supposed to be bolts,” he said.

The accident occurred about 11:30 a.m. at Lakewood Boulevard and Carson Street near the Long Beach Municipal Airport, where a building complex is being constructed for McDonnell-Douglas Real Estate Co.

The men were at about the seventh-floor level on the 15-foot-wide scaffolding when it collapsed, Wilson said.

They were identified by the coroner’s office as Wesley Davis, 28, of Dana Point, and Charles James, 42, of Littleton, Colo.

James was trapped beneath the wreckage and was pronounced dead at the scene. His body remained there for more than four hours until Fire Department paramedics received permission from the coroner’s office to move it by gurney into a garage under construction.

A coroner’s investigator said the office was short of its usual complement of workers and did not have enough personnel to answer all calls promptly.

Pronounced Dead

Davis was taken to Doctors Hospital of Lakewood, where he was pronounced dead shortly after noon.

One of the men worked for a glass company doing subcontract work on the project and the other worked for the company that rented out the scaffolding, according to a U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration official. Investigators said the two men were not wearing safety harnesses.

No other workers were injured. Witnesses said several workmen were at the bottom of the tower, but moved away shortly before it collapsed.

Representatives of the general contractor, Saffell McAdam Inc., refused to comment.