City inspector was at construction site just before garage collapse By JOHN CURRAN, AP
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- The deadly Oct. 30 collapse of a parking garage under construction at the Tropicana Casino and Resort occurred less than an hour after a city building inspector examined the site of a concrete pour and found nothing awry, according to city records obtained under Freedom of Information laws.
Anthony Cox, 38, spent about 90 minutes inspecting the form work, the steel reinforcements in the rebar concrete and other preparations for the pour on 'P-8,' the eighth parking level of what was to be a 10-story parking garage.
He finished at 10 a.m., about 40 minutes before the top five stories of the building came crashing down, killing four people and injuring 20.
The city's chief construction official, Steve Frame, called Cox _ a carpenter by trade licensed by the state as an inspector for high hazard structures _ a 'well-seasoned veteran' of the construction trades.