Florida

Videos show crane piece falling, crashing onto car in Fort Lauderdale

Police body-worn cameras also captured first responders interacting with victims.

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New videos show the moments when parts of a crane fell from a high-rise project and onto a bridge in downtown Fort Lauderdale, killing a construction worker and injuring several others earlier this year.

The incident happened on April 4 at a residential tower under construction right next to the New River. A chunk of the crane and construction materials broke off, falling onto the 3rd Avenue Bridge.

Police body-worn cameras also captured first responders interacting with victims. Workers were heard telling police the segment of the crane fell from the top of the structure.

Construction worker Jorge De La Torre, 27, fell with the crane section and was killed. Three other people who were on the ground or in vehicles were injured in the incident.

One of the injured victims, Gemmalyn Castillo, filed a $50-million-plus negligence lawsuit, saying she suffered "severe and serious head and facial trauma" after the incident.

Attorneys for Castillo said she was a rideshare customer who was in the backseat passenger side of a Tesla. After the crane fell on the Tesla, the driver jumped out and Castillo was left inside, the attorneys said. Castillo was knocked out for a bit in the backseat, came to, and was able to get herself out of the vehicle.

Her attorney already saw the video.

"When these types of things happen as a community, we have to look and say, what are we doing to make sure it does not happen again? Because right now, I have not heard anything about any criminal charges, and where is the accountability?" said Judd Rosen, who represents Castillo.

Fort Lauderdale Police have wrapped their investigation, finding nothing criminal about what happened and calling it an accident.

Federal agency Occupational Safety and Health Administration is still investigating.

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