Inspections, business dispute preceded fatal fall in downtown elevator
By Nicholas J.C. Pistor, St. Louis Post-Dispatch | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
Reuter, 61, who had been moving into the building that spanned
"I was shocked," said Strobel, the president of
Strobel had repeatedly tried to clear the eight-story structure of tenants. But that effort may have been complicated by a dispute with a business partner, developer
A review of public documents shows that government workers, including city building inspectors and state safety officials, had visited the building at least three times in the eight months before Reuter died. And yet, tenants remained there using the same elevator that had been shut down by authorities.
Strobel said she was disappointed the city didn't do more to make sure the building was safe. "Why didn't they have the fire department conduct an inspection for life safety?" she asked in a recent interview. "The life safety issues were left unresolved."
But
Reuter's death did. A fire inspection conducted after the musician died found 12 fire code violations, including insufficient lighting, lack of sprinkler system, obstructions in the upper level stairways and corridors, and "occupying premises without occupancy permit."
A state fire inspector also found that someone had removed a padlock and replaced fuses that had been removed to prevent the elevator from operating.
Strobel, who was present for an inspection in March, and city officials agree that the elevator was locked and the shaft closed when inspectors were present. Edwards, who was once an executive of the former Post-Dispatch parent company, did not return several messages from a reporter.
A city condemnation order was placed at the property in 2010. It lists the building address and does not reference a specific unit. For at least a year before the accident, documents show, the building's owner was operating as if floors two through eight had been condemned.
But last week, Oswald said the condemnation applied to only two specific units in the building, not the whole place. He conceded that the order itself, which remains in place, should have specified the units and that it should have been lifted after the people who had been living in those units vacated the property.
"I was having trouble getting insurance because of that condemnation," Strobel said. "I couldn't get a redevelopment started because they placed that condemnation. If someone looks at the (city's building database website), that condemnation is there."
Strobel continued: "It wasn't a civil issue. Somebody died. That death was so preventable."
"Someone died because someone snipped a lock that was put on there by a state inspector," she said.
Who did that and why is part of an ongoing investigation, Crane said.
WARNING
City Photo took control of the building at
The partnership was troubled. By 2011, court documents show, Edwards, who lived on the building's seventh floor, was removed as an officer and director of the company. City Photo later sued Edwards, claiming he was preventing the company from accessing the building.
"Upon information and belief, Edwards is renting space in the (building) to individuals for residential purposes without occupancy permits," City Photo alleged in a court document filed on
It continued: "(The building's) condition is unknown but appears to be rapidly deteriorating and is subject to an increasing number of issues including a condemnation order, constituting a waste of corporate asset. ... City Photo may be subject to liability for the violations of City ordinances and other issues occurring at the (building) and has no means to stop or remedy them."
The matter was resolved eventually after Strobel was allowed into the building.
By January of this year, an elevator expert hired by Strobel concluded the building's freight elevator needed to be shut down.
"There are no exemptions in the code to permit the operation of this elevator in the current condition. This elevator should be locked out of service immediately," warned
Sacks noted there was no car gate and no emergency communication system. He found no safety circuits or structural components designed for safety, such as suspension ropes, safety mechanisms, according to the email.
Four days later, Edwards filed paperwork with the state to register the elevator and make its operation legal, according to documents from the
"
On
In March, Strobel filed termination of tenancy letters for everyone in the building, demanding that they immediately leave. Edwards was served with an eviction notice on
Despite the court actions, several tenants, including Edwards, remained in the building. By early March the elevator was operational again -- but it was clearly in need of repair.
"It was obviously broken," Shepley said. "We started screaming up the shaft."
Eventually, she said, people in the building used a crowbar to pry open the doors and allow the trapped passengers to escape.
ACCIDENT
In August, Reuter, the popular front-man of the rock band Alley Ghost, was hauling his belongings in to the once-disabled freight elevator and up to a fifth-floor studio area of the building.
One resident said Reuter took charge of operating the elevator as he moved in.
"(The elevator) had its quirks, obviously," said
Stephens said he had visited the building many times doing work for
Stephens said he didn't know who had put the elevator into service, though he said he had seen Edwards and a maintenance man working on it.
Aeling, who said he lived in the building for 15 years, said the elevator had always been in service while he had been there. He said he was out of town when officials said they red-tagged it in February. But after he returned in the spring, he said, the elevator was being used.
"I had never seen a red tag on it," Aeling said.
Aeling also said he had no idea who had removed the lock from the elevator.
"This struck me as odd because the maintenance man said it hadn't been used and was locked for a few months," Hercher wrote in a report.
Edwards, who once served as vice president of
"I never had the knowledge to turn it on," Cox said in an interview. "But it was running the entire time."
The building went into foreclosure after Reuter's death. It is now owned by
The new owner, with the elevator finally shuttered, rented a crane and a crew in recent days to move out the belongings of residents who had remained in the building.
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