Demolition worker injured in building collapse
A building collapsed on a man working to demolish it Sunday afternoon, leaving him critically injured.
"I heard a crash and I saw it coming down," said Kevin Wehrer, 19, who said he was within a few feet of his co-worker when the man was buried under a pile of debris.
"I yelled, but it was too late for him to get out of the way," Wehrer said.
The name of the critically injured man was not released Sunday night, but workers at Wilkes-Barre, PA General Hospital said he was in critical but stable condition hours after the collapse.
"It was a very meticulously planned demolition," contractor Anthony Popple said. "It was just a question of why he was in the spot he was in. He just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."
The building collapsed shortly after 4 p.m. Sunday. Firefighters tossed aside bricks and beams to get to the man, who was pinned under debris.
The building on Public Square, Wilkes-Barre's town center, was once part of Pomeroy's Department Store. It also once housed the Studio Cafe. Demolition work began Dec. 4.
The Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Business and Industry bought the century-old building in 2001 and hired A.R. Popple Construction to demolish it after concluding it was not worth renovating,
"When you are dealing with an older building like this you always have to be cautious, but we had no reason to believe it would collapse," said Mike Lombardo, acting president of the chamber.
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