Contractor gets prison time for deadly building collapse

PHILADELPHIA – A contractor hired at a cut-rate price to take down a building was sentenced Friday to 15 to 30 years in prison for its collapse, which killed six people and injured 13 others and led Philadelphia to adopt new rules for demolitions.
Judge Glenn Bronson told Griffin Campbell the victims suffered slow, agonizing deaths in a crime that shook the city. He stacked the manslaughter sentences consecutively, saying the jury found Campbell to be criminally reckless and lied to investigators afterward.
Sean Benschop, whom Campbell hired, was sentenced to 7½ to 15 years in prison for recklessly operating heavy equipment at the site when a towering brick wall collapsed onto a neighboring thrift store.
Relatives of six people killed in the collapse expressed distress earlier Friday that some people they deem responsible for the deaths have not been punished.
Campbell was thrilled to get the $112,000 contract and hoped it would be his big break after years running a lunch truck.
“This job meant a lot to me – a lot. I was going to be out of debt, and life was going to be good,” said Campbell, 51, a married father of four who did not have insurance for his demolition work.
“When this wall fell, it was like we were in a third world somewhere,” said Campbell, who said he had taken down four buildings before, but none as large.
During his trial, Campbell described himself as a scapegoat for the architect overseeing the demolition of a seedy downtown block. He was being paid a fraction of the going rate for the job.
Prosecutors said he cut corners – gutting the building inside instead of taking it down floor by floor – and ignored repeated warnings before the wall collapsed, trapping 19 people inside the store.
City Treasurer Nancy Winkler called it “disturbing and distressing” that her family will have to go through a second trial in civil court to seek justice for others involved in the demolition, which killed her 24-year-old daughter. Many families are suing building owner Richard Basciano, the Salvation Army and others.
“Grieving for a killed child is an overwhelming experience,” Winkler said. “The fact that full justice is not happening at this trial is disturbing and distressing. So now we have to go through more stress … to try to get some level of justice.”
Prosecutors had sought a 25- to 50-year prison term for Campbell for involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault and other charges, according to a sentencing memo. A jury cleared him of third-degree murder at a trial.
“Those buildings sat there a long time. They were dangerous,” William Hobson, a lawyer who represents Campbell, said Thursday. “To take them down, they hired a guy who basically spent more time running a lunch truck. They were doing it on the cheap.”
Benschop, who pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and testified against Campbell, told the judge he’d made a mistake in an effort to feed his family. He apologized to the families and said he had come to know one of the victims, a man from the Salvation Army store from Liberia, because they talked as they drank coffee together at the site in the mornings.
He said he “couldn’t believe it” when he heard the man had died.
He said he was using heavy equipment nearby when the wall crashed onto a Salvation Army store, instead of doing the delicate job by hand.
“When I saw the building like that, I should have walked away,” Benschop testified. “I had my family to feed and I had bills to pay.”
One survivor lost both legs after spending 13 hours trapped in the rubble. A dozen other people were injured.