A contractor in charge of making sure an Upper East Side crane was raised safely was so “reckless and negligent” that the crane toppled, killing seven people last year, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said.
The contractor, William Rapetti, and his firm, Rapetti Rigging Services, were indicted on seven counts of criminally negligent homicide and manslaughter for violating city, federal and industry rules for raising a tower crane.
Rapetti was in charge of “jumping,” or raising, the crane at a building site at 303 E. 51st St. when it collapsed on March 15. Six construction workers and a tourist visiting from Florida for St. Patrick’s Day were killed.
Morgenthau said the crew at the site was hoisting a 12,000-pound steel collar up the mast of the crane to connect it to the 18th floor so they could lengthen the crane. The collars are used to secure the crane tower to the building.
In the process of attaching the collar, it is temporarily held in place with polyester slings. But the slings snapped, allowing the collar to slide down the crane tower, dislodging two collars supporting the crane at the ninth and third floors.
“Rapetti’s reckless and negligent rigging practices caused the failure of the slings and the collapse of the crane,” Morgenthau said after the indictment was announced.
The three collars slammed into the base, causing the unsupported crane tower to topple, Morgenthau said.
Rapetti is accused of using four polyester slings, instead of the eight called for by city building codes, federal regulations.
And Morgenthau said one of the four slings had substantial pre-existing damage that would have been obvious to Rapetti if he had inspected them as required under the city and federal rules and the manufacturer’s warning labels on the slings.
“It should not have been used at all,” Morgenthau said of the damaged sling.
In addition, Morgenthau said, the rigging crew under Rapetti’s guidance used the wrong knots to tie the slings to the collar and wrapped the polyester material around sharp edges without any protective padding to prevent them from being damaged.
Rapetti, 48, of Massapequa Park, faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
Arthur Aidala, a lawyer for Rapetti, said in an e-mail to the Associated Press that his client surrendered to prosecutors yesterday morning. “William Rapetti and Rapetti Rigging have a long and distinguished record of excellence, safety and public service spanning decades,” Aidala wrote. “William Rapetti is determined to help clear his name and demonstrate that he and his company operated and supervised the site in a manner beyond reproach.”
The 19-story-tall crane was being used to construct a luxury high-rise. It destroyed a four-story townhouse and damaged several neighboring buildings.
Rapetti’s firm, was one of three contractors fined over $300,000 by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for safety violations stemming from the collapse.
The crane collapse was one of two last year. Two workers were killed in May in the collapse of a 43-story-tall crane on East 91st Street, which is under investigation by Morgenthau’s prosecutors.
The collapses and a spate of other construction accidents prompted the resignation of then city Buildings Commissioner Patricia Lancaster.