PHILADELPHIA, June 12 (UPI) -- Equipment blamed in a Philadelphia building collapse in which six people died was only to be used for removing debris, the contractor's attorney says.
Kenneth Edelin said that while his client, Griffin Campbell, was at the job site, he did not see the excavator doing demolition because he 'was not right where the wall was," The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Wednesday.
Edelin said Campbell had ordered the excavator be used only to remove debris and "did not give any instructions to anybody to use the excavator on that portion of the building."
The wall that toppled onto a neighboring Salvation Army thrift store, killing six, was to be dismantled by hand, the attorney said.
Fourteen people also were injured in the collapse.
Edelin said the building owner, Richard Basciano, was on site and talking to Campbell at the time of the accident.
Sean Benschop, the operator of the excavator, has been charged with six counts of involuntary manslaughter, among other charges. A toxicology report said marijuana was in his system at the time of the accident.
