'The whole building was shaking' - Survivor of 2013 Center City building collapse testifies as civil trial continues

After several weeks of noises and concussions that shook their building, workers in the Salvation Army thrift store in Center City had developed a gallows humor.

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"Yes, we would talk about how the building was shaking," said sorter Nadine White. "We kind of joked about it - it might cave in."

At 10:41 a.m. on June 5, 2013, it did. An unbraced three- to four-story brick wall remaining from the vacant Hoagie City building being demolished next door toppled.

When the dust settled, the one-story thrift store at 22nd and Market Streets was gone. Six people were dead under the pile of rubble. Thirteen, including White, were injured, and one of them would die 23 days later.

On Monday, White, 59, of South Philadelphia, recalled the events leading to the collapse under questioning by plaintiffs' lawyer Jeffrey P. Goodman.

Testifying at the beginning of the third week of the Philadelphia Common Pleas Court civil trial of lawsuits filed on behalf of those killed and injured, White said she had returned to work at the thrift store a year earlier after a two-year stint in the late '90s.

White testified that the demolition work going on at 2136-38 Market was impossible to ignore: "The whole building would shake."

When she went to use the restroom in the store, White said, she would have to brush off dust and debris that had fallen from the ceiling on top of the toilet tank.

However, White told the jury of six women and six men, no one from the Salvation Army management ever told them their lives might be in danger.

The Salvation Army is among the parties being sued. The plaintiffs' lawyers maintain that officials of the charity never relayed warnings of the danger of a potential collapse they received in email correspondence with the Hoagie City building's owner, New York real estate speculator Richard Basciano and his STB Investments Corp.

White, who is to continue testifying Tuesday, is the second survivor of the collapse to testify. Salvation Army sorter Felicia Hill, 39, testified that she was talking to White that morning, complimenting her on her hair, when she "heard a noise . . . and then all of a sudden, the wall came in."

Earlier Monday, the jury watched the final portion of a nine-hour video deposition given by former North Philadelphia demolition contractor Griffin Campbell, convicted of involuntary manslaughter and serving a 15- to 30-year prison term for his role in the deadly collapse.

Campbell, 52, who testified that he had no prior experience demolishing large commercial buildings, said he was following instructions from the man who hired him: Center City architect Plato A. Marinakos Jr., who was hired by STB to monitor demolition of five vacant buildings it owned in the 2100 and 2200 blocks of Market Street.

In addition to Campbell and the Salvation Army, those being sued include Basciano and his STB company; Marinakos; and Sean Benschop, an excavator operator hired by Campbell to help knock down the remains of the Hoagie City building. Campbell and Benschop were the only two criminally charged as a result of the collapse. Benschop pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and is serving a term of 71/2 to 15 years in prison.

jslobodzian@phillynews.com

215-854-2985 @joeslobo

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