Charges due in fatal building collapse
PHILADELPHIA — A 42-yearold man who was allegedly high while operating demolition equipment when a downtown building collapsed and killed six people will be charged with involuntary manslaughter, a top city official said Friday.
Sean Benschop faces six counts on that charge, six counts of risking catastrophe and other charges, said Deputy Mayor Everett Gillison.
Authorities have said Benschop had been using an excavator Wednesday when what was left of the four-story building gave way and fell on top of a neighboring Salvation Army thrift store.
A toxicology report, witness statements and other evidence shows Benschop was high on marijuana that day, Gillison said.
Benschop, who also goes by the name Kary Roberts, has been arrested at least 11 times since 1994 on charges ranging from drugs to theft to weapons possession, according to court records. teristics on Friday even as it still packed maximum sustained winds of 45 mph.
Forecasters say Andrea could bring high winds, heavy rainfall, and localized coastal flooding through Saturday across the mid-Atlantic states and New England. Rainfall accumulations of 2 to 4 inches were possible along the Eastern Seaboard into coastal Maine, the hurricane center said. bear at a remote lake in the state’s interior.
Troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters says the victim was 64-year-old Robert Weaver of Fairbanks.
Weaver and an unidentified family member were at a cabin at George Lake, about 110 miles southeast of Fairbanks, when the attack occurred.
The other family member sought shelter inside the cabin and called aut horities. Responding troopers found Weaver’s body outside.
Peters says a trooper investigating the death encountered a black bear. The animal was killed.