A motorist was inches from death when part of a crane crashed into his car as he drove on an overpass next to a construction site.
Parts of the crane fell onto the Southeast 3rd Avenue Bridge in Fort Lauderdale around 4:30 p.m. on April 4, killing construction worker Jorge De La Torre.
Gemmalyn Castillo was one of three other people injured when a massive piece of the crane crushed the passenger side of the taxi she was in.
A newly released video shows the wreckage of the vehicle crashing into the black Tesla sedan, bringing the car to a halt along with others around it.
Parts of the crane collapsed onto the Southeast 3rd Avenue Bridge in Fort Lauderdale around 4:30 p.m. on April 4.
Castillo was in the back seat and suffered “severe and serious trauma to her head and face” when she was thrown from the cabin, her lawyers said.
The video shows the driver jumping out of the car, miraculously unharmed, but Castillo was trapped in the back until police removed her from her seat.
Police body camera footage, released alongside the video, showed paramedics stopping the bleeding from Castillo’s head wounds as she cried hysterically.
They also spoke to the driver, who told them: ‘My mind is pretty disturbed… but what if I could have my phone?’
Other footage showed police trying to clear the area if anyone was uninjured and had a way to get out of the way.
A newly released video shows the wreckage of the vehicle crashing into the black Tesla sedan, bringing the car to a halt along with others around it.
The video shows the driver jumping out of the car, miraculously unharmed, but Gemmalyn Castillo was trapped in the back until police removed her from her seat.
A police officer told a motorist who had stopped on the bridge when the crane fell but did not reach his car that he needed to get “away from the crane.”
The man bluntly stated: “He’s already fallen,” but the policeman warned him: “He could fall further!”
“That thing almost fell on me, okay!” the driver protested.
Construction workers were also filmed saying the crane must have failed structurally because they were “scaling” it by adding pieces to increase its height.
“Something broke and that thing fell, because that thing was already in place,” said one of the workers.
De La Torre, who was in the crane, fell to his death and Gregory Garcia, 43, and Carol Zinser, 69, were injured on the ground along with Castillo.
The crane piece was captured by the dashboard camera falling onto the bridge
Police body camera footage showed paramedics stopping the bleeding from Castillo’s head wounds as she cried hysterically.
Castillo was in the back seat and suffered “severe and severe trauma to her head and face” when she was thrown from the cabin, her lawyers said.
Mark Cerezin’s Tesla was also hit by the tow truck as he drove behind the other Tesla, but he was unharmed.
“I was driving and I felt a compression, I looked up and saw the blue structure coming down, and I slammed on the brakes,” he told NBC at the time.
‘The front of my Tesla came off and all the airbags went off. I’m very lucky to be alive.’
The crane piece fell from a 43-story apartment building that was under construction and was intended to house mostly senior citizens and also businesses.
The $151 million project was plagued by delays, lawsuits and design and construction problems even before the crane disaster.
Phoenix Rigging & Erecting LLC, Kast Construction, LLC and Maxim Crane Works LP are under investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Fort Lauderdale police investigated but found no criminal wrongdoing.
De La Torre was the father of a five-year-old girl and a two-year-old boy and traveled to Florida from his home in Georgia for work.
“God took you away from me and I will never know why. I will love you for the rest of my life. You were a great father, an annoyingly funny best friend, the best provider and the love of my life,” wrote his wife Joselyn Farias.
Castillo’s attorney, Judd Rosen, said he was upset that no one would be held criminally liable for the crane collapse.
“When these kinds of things happen as a community, we have to look at it and say, ‘What are we doing to make sure it doesn’t happen again? ’” she said.
“Because so far I haven’t heard anything about any criminal charges, and where is the accountability?”
In April, Castillo sued the companies involved in the project for $50 million, alleging their negligence caused the accident and failed to protect the public.
He alleged that Kast “negligently and carelessly permitted an unsafe condition at his construction site and/or negligently and carelessly operated and/or constructed and/or installed and/or supervised the use of the crane such that it crashed into traffic below.”
Castillo’s attorneys claimed the crane was not properly inspected, assembled or moved and that shortcuts were taken to finish the building “on an unreasonably accelerated schedule.”
Mark Cerezin’s Tesla was also hit by the tow truck as he drove behind the other Tesla, but he was not injured.
The crane piece fell from a 43-story apartment building that was under construction and planned to house mostly senior citizens along with retail stores.
The $151 million project was plagued by delays, lawsuits and design and construction problems even before the crane disaster.
De La Torre was the father of a five-year-old girl and a two-year-old boy and traveled to Florida from his home in Georgia to work.
“God took you away from me and I will never know why. I will love you for the rest of my life. You were a great father, a very funny best friend, the best provider and the love of my life,” wrote his wife Joselyn Farias.
“Your smile and laughter will live forever in my mind and heart. Your love is passed on through our children and they will miss you dearly. They are strong babies and will live on for you.
‘I love you and I will come to you when it is my time to rest with you.’
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