Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of America

Milwaukee, WI: (Aug-07-07) The families of four workers who suffered post-traumatic stress disorder in the aftermath of the Big Blue crane collapse in July 1999 at Miller Park brought a lawsuit against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of America and nine other defendants. The suit stemmed from the accident where three ironworkers were killed, delaying the opening of the baseball stadium until March 2001. The four workers are Joseph Edwards Jr., Shayne Olson, Robert Becker, and Thomas Freda. Sources state that Olson and Edwards were operating smaller cranes at the construction site on July 14, 1999, when Big Blue became unstable. Freda was on the roof of the stadium when he saw the crane collapse. Becker was the last person to speak to ironworkers Jeffrey Wischer, William DeGrave, and Jerome Starr, who were killed in the accident. Big Blue was lifting a 450-ton piece of the roof when the piece began swaying in the wind and the crane collapsed. Wischer, DeGrave and Starr were suspended nearby, 200 feet in the air, in a basket that another crane hoisted. Falling debris collided with the basket, instantly killing the men. In a settlement reached, the ironworkers' widows received millions in compensation under the terms of a separate agreement. [JOURNAL SENTINAL: CRANE ACCIDENT]

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Published on Aug-8-07