He said the contractors removing asbestos were paid a fixed fee and had to absorb the cost of multiple delays, some of them caused by regulators who found that contaminants had not been satisfactorily removed.ĭrawing often on evidence introduced during the trial, which has lasted about two months, Mr. Seidemann countered that the removal was a “highly criminal act” intended to protect “the corporate bottom line,” adding that the supervisors should have recognized that the standpipe was vital to safety. DePaola said his client did not think removing that section held any risk.īut on Wednesday, Mr. Those lawyers have said the removal of the section of pipe had nothing to do with the deaths. Melofchik did nothing to prevent or rectify it.ĭefense lawyers argued on Tuesday that the firefighters were killed by a “perfect storm” of adverse circumstances, most notably a maze of construction barriers and an air system meant to stop the spread of asbestos, and which created a fatal smoke chamber on the day of the fire. DePaola removed the 42-foot section at the direction of Mr. The supervisors - Mitchel Alvo, Salvatore DePaola and Jeffrey Melofchik - and the demolition contractor for which two of them worked, the John Galt Corporation, are charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. “But for these acts, the firefighters would be alive, and none of us would be in the courtroom today.” “The evidence, taken together, woven together, paints a mosaic of overwhelming guilt,” Mr. Graffagnino and Robert Beddia, from obtaining water that could have saved their lives, he said in State Supreme Court in Manhattan. That removal prevented the firefighters who died, Joseph P. Seidemann, said three construction supervisors and a company involved in the deconstruction and decontamination of the building were so concerned with saving money on the project that they sacrificed safety by removing a 42-foot section of standpipe in the building’s basement. The deaths in 2007 of two firefighters during a blaze at the former Deutsche Bank building in Lower Manhattan were caused by the actions of contractors working inside the building, a prosecutor repeatedly told jurors on Wednesday.ĭuring a summation that lasted more than four hours and will continue on Thursday, the prosecutor, Joel J.
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