A crane smashed into the roof a house in Hallandale Beach Thursday killing one worker that was tending to the foundation of the home.
“When I first came upon the scene, it was pretty interesting to see, this crane went down,” said neighbor Geoff Siegel. “Twenty feet of roof was missing from the neighboring house and then I followed the crane and saw a body motionless. It was no longer fun.”
Hallandale Beach Police, along with federal investigators from OSHA, were on the scene trying to figure out what led to the crane falling over.
“As the crane was moving, apparently it started to wobble a bit, unsteady, at that point it started to topple over,” said Hallandale Police Captain Sonia Quinones. “Construction workers noticed what was taking place and they took off running.”
The lone worker who didn't make it was later identified as Christopher Ricci, 27.
Dr. James Caschette’s roof was clipped as the crane collapsed.
“He said he heard a big thundering crash, the house shook,” Caschette’s son Michael said. “When he made his way outside, he saw the gentleman underneath the crane and everyone was running around trying to figure out what was going on.”
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Investigators haven’t determined what happened to make the crane crash, but one neighbor said it may have been the recent wet weather.
“Figured with all the rain and all the mud and soft earth, this thing might just go down,” Siegel said. “Couldn’t imagine it would stay up. It did have the outboard gizmos in place, but there’s nothing under ‘em.”
