Employee of Langhorne Business Witnesses Collapse


A Instagram image of the scene posted Wednesday. Credit: Instagram/Daniel Prikhodko
A Instagram image of the scene posted Wednesday.
Credit: Instagram/Daniel Prikhodko

In Thursday’s print edition of The Trentonian, Ray Kauffman, superintendent for Langhorne-based Joseph S. Smith Roofing, recalled rushing from his nearby work site to scene of the building collapse which killed 6 people and injured more than a dozen others Wednesday morning in Philadelphia.

The former Bristol High School football defensive coordinator told the newspaper that the collapse was like nothing he had ever seen before.

Advertisements


According to Philly.com, the collapse happened when a four-story building at the corner of 22nd and Market streets that was being demolished fell onto the next-door Salvation Army Thrift Store. The building being taken down was once a porn shop and is owned by Richard Basciano, who the New York Times called the “undisputed Prince of Porn.”

“A police source said the collapse could have been caused by demolition at an adjacent building.” Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Ben Finley tweeted hours after the collapse.

Click here to read Ray Kauffman’s account of the collapse