Huge Crane Falls at High-Rise Site but No One Is Hurt

A massive crane collapsed atop a high-rise building under construction in Century City Wednesday morning, leaving an 80-foot boom balancing precariously on the skeleton of the 28th floor and sending the crane’s hook plummeted more than 200 feet to the street below.

Although dozens of construction personnel were working throughout the partially completed building and on the ground below, there were no reports of injuries.

“I was looking out the window when I noticed that the crane was swinging very fast,” said Brian Campbell, a 34-year-old office broker who works in another high-rise across the street from the building being erected at 1999 Avenue of the Stars.

“Suddenly, part of it collapsed, and it came crashing down through the decking they’re putting in on the top,” Campbell said. “The workmen up there scattered like ants as the thing came down. The boom was left hanging. . . .”

Plumber Michael Sennett, 31, who had been installing toilet fixtures on the seventh floor of the building, said the impact of the falling crane “felt like an earthquake.”

The crane consists of a vertical mast beam, much like the mast of a ship, with a horizontal boom suspended from it, much like a ship’s boom. Officers of Dinwiddie Construction Co., which is erecting the building, said the crane was not carrying a load when the boom snapped near the point where it joins the mast.

Used Moments Earlier

Witnesses said the crane had been used moments earlier to haul half a dozen 20-foot steel beams up to the construction crew, which is building the top floors of what eventually will be a 38-story structure.

The operator of the crane works from the ground, following the hand signals of workmen perched at the edge of the top floor.

Fire and police units responded quickly to the accident at 10:53 a.m., barricading the streets below while construction crews and firefighters atop the structure worked to secure the dangling boom.

Neither the Fire Department nor the construction company had a damage estimate.

Times staff writer Paul Feldman contributed to this story .