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New York City Crane Collapse; Drilling for Answers; Deciding the Delegates

Aired May 30, 2008 - 10:59   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning again, everyone. You're with CNN.
I'm Tony Harris.

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Randi Kaye. Heidi is off today.

Developments keep coming in to the CNN NEWSROOM on this Friday, the 30th of May.

Here is what is on the rundown.

A construction crane crashes into a penthouse apartment. Breaking news from Manhattan.

HARRIS: Tornadoes tearing up homes in the plains today. The bull's eye, roughly St. Louis to Chicago.

KAYE: Polygamist parents waiting for hundreds of children to come home. The Texas Supreme Court sides with them in the custody fight.

You're in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: And breaking news out of New York City. A massive crane has toppled from a high-rise on Manhattan's east side. Live pictures now.

Fire crews say they have pulled people from the wreckage that has swallowed the sidewalks and city streets below. Here is what we know right now.

At least one person is confirmed dead. At least two people are critically injured. Fire crews are digging through the wreckage, searching for others. When the crane toppled, it slammed into an adjacent building and unleashed an avalanche of debris. In March, another construction crane collapse in Manhattan left seven people dead.

CNN crews have scrambled to the scene. Jason Carroll is close to the location and he joins us now with the latest.

Jason, what is the latest?

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, we were actually a little bit closer. We've been moved just a few blocks away from the vantage point we had before. But as I set the scene, we're going to be rolling some video so you can see exactly where all of this happened.

It was just after 8:00 this morning. I spoke to two construction workers who were there working on an apartment building under construction called The Azure. One was on the sixth floor, the other was on the 11th floor.

Both of them tell me that everything had been going as scheduled. There were no signs of any problems. There was a crane that was working there on the building that was under construction, and then all of a sudden, they heard a loud noise. It sounded like a toothpick snapping.

And then they said they saw the crane which was above them maybe some 20 stories from the ground up snap, fall, hit the penthouse of the building next to it. And as it was falling down, it sort of sheared the side of the building. A number of the balconies there on the side of the building, you can see evidence of the damage as that crane fell.

We had the opportunity with all of the crews that we have out here to speak to a number of people who were there at the scene. First, you are going hear from a construction worker who was there on the sixth floor. Then you are going to also hear from someone who was in that building that the crane struck as it fell.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASIA GIBSON, WITNESS, CONSTRUCTION WORKER: I heard the crane snap like a toothpick, and it started to pull away from the building. It fell back, it hit the penthouse, fell, hit it again, and then just came straight down into the street.

CARROLL: What do you think could have caused something like this to happen?

GIBSON: Like I said, we really don't know, because as far as -- we had inspectors from every local come check it out. We had building inspectors that were on site every day. They told us what they liked, what they didn't like.

We complied with them 100 percent. That's why the job was never shut down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was actually asleep and heard like a loud noise, and the building really shook a lot. And I kind of -- my roommate and I shot up out of bed. And I ran to the window and there was smoke and tons of debris falling everywhere. Then we just ran outside.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what was -- what went through your mind when all of this happened?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I initially thought it was like a bomb or something. I mean, it was just like (INAUDIBLE). That's kind of the first thing I thought. She knew, she said, that it was a crane.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: As you heard from that construction worker who was there, here at the site, she also told me that there was an engineer inside that cab, that cab that fell all of those stories. We are trying to get an update on his condition. She says that he was a competent man and that she cannot understand why this has happened.

One of the construction workers told me that they called it a freak accident. They told me that building inspectors, given the history of what's happened here in the city, building inspectors had been down here on the scene on a regular basis, checking things out.

Whenever there was anything that looked as if it was out of order, it was fixed right away. They said that the site had never been shut down. As you can understand here, Tony, there are going to be a lot of questions for the city and for the city's mayor, Michael Bloomberg.

We are told he is holding a press conference shortly, or even now as we speak. Mayor Bloomberg called this whole ordeal unacceptable and "intolerable."

This, of course, coming on the heels of what happened in the city just a few months ago when we had that other major crane collapse that you were talking about. Seven people were killed in that crane collapse, also on the upper east side. Some 24 people were injured in that one.

The city's building inspector had to resign in disgrace as a result of what happened there. A lot of questions about now what happened this time -- Tony.

HARRIS: Jason, that's great reporting. You really put us on the ground there, particularly with those eyewitness accounts. And as you mentioned just a moment ago, Mayor bloomberg set to offer some comments and give us an update on the situation there in New York in just a couple of minutes, scheduled for 11:15 a.m. Eastern Time, making the comments and reacting to this latest deadly crane collapse.

On his morning program on WOR, as Jason just mentioned, calling this unacceptable and intolerable. When the mayor makes those comments we will bring them to you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: The increase in oil prices is taking money out of all of our pockets. Many have suspected something is amiss, including the federal government.

CNNMoney.com's Poppy Harlow is drilling for -- boy, I said it again, didn't I? Drilling for answers about a recently-revealed government investigation.

I apologize. Good morning, Poppy.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Good morning, Tony.

Yes, the price of oil down now, right around $126 a barrel, but still double what we saw just a year ago. And we heard late yesterday that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is looking into potential market manipulation in the oil market. It's been doing so since December, and as we've been telling you, the price of crude has risen nearly 40 percent since the beginning of the year.

Now, oil is traded on the futures market, and the CFTC governs futures trading in the U.S. for everything, from crude oil to wheat to gold. Now, the CFTC is looking into weather traders, banks or hedge funds bet that oil prices would rise based on information -- and this is key here -- that they should not have had access to, therefore driving up the prices for the rest of us, especially at the pump.

Now, the former head of trading and market of the CFTC was a guest this morning on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING," and he thinks this is really shining a light on the futures market and could really change some behavior.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PROF. MICHAEL GREENBERGER, CENTER FOR HEALTH & HOMELAND SECURITY: The traders now know that someone is looking over their shoulder, and their manipulative practice, their phony sales are being watched. Investment banks, hedge funds and wealthy investors in dark corners of these markets are taking money out of the consumer's pocket.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: The question, of course, now is how much of that money is a result of normal market conditions, and how much is due to illegal manipulation? Now, traders are allowed to speculate about future prices, but they are not allowed to manipulate the markets. So far, the commission isn't showing its cards -- Tony.

HARRIS: Well, Poppy, how significant is it that the CFTC is making the probe public now?

HARLOW: That's a great question. It is very significant.

Now, the one card that the commission is showing is that there is an investigation. Now, the CFTC, like all securities regulators, rarely discloses (INAUDIBLE) like this until it gets really serious. And keep in mind, the commission said to Congress just three weeks ago their studies have produced no evidence that oil speculators are significantly driving up the price of crude.

So yesterday's disclosure adds just a whole new layer to this story. What has changed in the last 21 days? We don't know. HARRIS: Yes.

HARLOW: What we do know so far is there are no specific allegations of wrongdoing, but you can bet this is just a developing story. There's a lot ahead -- Tony.

HARRIS: Happy that you're following it for us.

Poppy Harlow in New York for us.

Poppy, good to see you. Thank you.

HARLOW: Sure.

KAYE: And just in to the CNN NEWSROOM, we want to take you live now to Orange County, Florida. You're looking at live pictures there from our affiliate.

A man apparently trapped under a mound of dirt. Apparently, we are told that this dirt weighs about 18 to 20 tons -- 18 to 20 tons.

That's coming to us from the Orange County Fire Rescue. They apparently said this man is not injured, but he is inside that backhoe, which as you can see, is pinned by the dirt.

Once again, these are live pictures. This is apparently an industrial accident. It occurred, for those of you who might be familiar with this area, on Avalon Road near Hartzog (ph) and State Road 229 in Orange County, Florida.

Working desperately there, you can see, to try and get this guy out, pinned apparently by 18 to 20 tons of dirt. And the company, we're told, that operates this site is Florida Dirt. We don't have any word from them, but they're certainly trying to get their man out.

HARRIS: Yes. Given what we've seen so far today, we need this to really work out.

KAYE: Yes, I would say so.

HARRIS: Yes, we do.

HARRIS: More at risk in China's earthquake zone. Here is what we know.

Authorities are now expanding evacuations. They're moving an additional 40,000 people living near an unstable dam created by this month's quake. That brings the total number of evacuees to almost 200,000. Many have been living in makeshift tents.

Meantime, crews say rain and a chemical fire, if you can believe it, are slowing earthquake recovery efforts. The official death toll is now 68,858.

Looking to save a few pennies at the gas pump? Then don't look online. We will tell you why in the NEWSROOM. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Tomorrow in Washington, Democrats will decide on Florida and Michigan's delegates. They were left in limbo when the party punished those states for holding their primaries too early. Quite a bit is at stake here, especially for Hillary Clinton.

CNN's Tom Foreman, there he is, joining us with a preview.

And Tom, let me set this first question up a little bit. We just ran a piece. Drew Griffin was with us just a short time ago. Inside of his piece there was some criticism of Barack Obama for playing by the rules, playing by the rules in his 1996 campaign.

If you would, put us in the room tomorrow. This is the DNC's Rules Committee that is meeting. What's the guidance you're receiving? What's going on happen?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the problem, Tony, is it's just the rules. The fact is, they did something early on that they felt was in accordance with the rules.

Florida and Michigan pushed up their primaries. They wanted to punish them, so they stripped them of all their delegates. Now there are arguments within the committee, and people saying no, no, no, you never had a right to strip all of the delegates, you could only strip half the delegates. Meanwhile, complicating everything is they did have votes in Michigan and Florida.

HARRIS: Yes.

FOREMAN: They were in no way, normal elections. In Michigan, Obama wasn't even on the ballot. The campaigns didn't campaign in these states.

The Clinton campaign keeps saying that's valid, you must count these people and seat them according to how they voted. The Obama campaign and plenty of others are saying no way, this wasn't a real contest. You can find a way to apportion them, but this should not decide the election.

HARRIS: All right. Correct me if I'm wrong here. This story baffles me in some respects. Didn't both of these...

FOREMAN: Yes, you and the Democrats, too.

HARRIS: ... candidates. Come on. Didn't both of these candidates -- didn't Clinton and Obama sign a pledge saying that these are not real contests?

FOREMAN: Yes.

HARRIS: Florida and Michigan, they're not real -- both signed the pledge.

FOREMAN: Yes. They both acknowledged early on that these were not real contests. But remember -- and this is the simple part of this equation -- back then, Hillary Clinton looked like she was going just sweep this thing and go to the top. It was an easy agreement to make back then because she thought she had the race all sewn up, but now that it hasn't been sewn up, they're reaching back and saying we need to talk about this.

And there is a legitimate argument from many Democrats to say you don't really want to alienate Michigan and Florida this way. The problem, Tony, is months and months and months ago, people knew it was shaping up this way.

HARRIS: Yes.

FOREMAN: And they just didn't see a way to solve it back then. And frankly, many Democrats kept hoping they wouldn't have to solve it.

HARRIS: Yes.

FOREMAN: They were hoping that somehow a front-runner would clearly emerge. Obama is the front-runner, but they wanted -- just one that was so overwhelming that everyone would drop out. And that hasn't happened.

HARRIS: Got you.

Is it possible the committee could award all of the delegates in Florida and Michigan, all of them, to either of these candidates?

FOREMAN: No.

HARRIS: So there will be some...

FOREMAN: Possibly some, but there's just no sign that that's going to happen.

The biggest indication that we have of what's going to happen -- and I've been hearing this for weeks and weeks now from pretty high- level Democrats, including some who are involved in this -- they're going go into this meeting and they're going find a way to probably reinstate 50 percent of the delegates from Michigan, 50 percent from Florida. And then divide them in some way that gives Hillary Clinton an advantage, because they'll say, well, you did win the votes such as they were.

But the Obama people are basically arguing we've already made a concession. We're willing to accept that which loses some of our lead...

HARRIS: Yes.

FOREMAN: What the Obama people will not accept is a deal that gives away the lead or that ties the race.

HARRIS: OK. So a split -- so perhaps a split-plus for Senator Clinton. FOREMAN: Yes. Almost certainly a split decision in which Clinton gains some ground, but not nearly enough to make up for the fact that she's so far behind now in the numbers that she just can't do this.

Now, that said, I should say this, Tony -- the makeup of this group is important to consider here. Of all these superdelegates who are going to go into this room and have this big debate, 13 of them are declared Clinton supporters. Only eight are declared Obama supporters. But most importantly, nine of them are either undecided or undeclared.

HARRIS: Got you.

FOREMAN: And I say undeclared because some of them will tell you privately they have decided, but they don't want to say publicly. The question about those nine is, how many of those already consider themselves in Obama's camp or in Clinton's camp? And ultimately, how much do all of them have to look at the bigger party and say, as much as we may support this person or this person, if we make a decision that's too far off the mark for either camp, do you poison the race in the general election and make many Democrats in Florida and Michigan not show up and give the race to the Republicans?

HARRIS: That's right.

And Tom, you're there for us tomorrow, correct?

FOREMAN: It's going to be a very big day there. We're going to be there all day covering from gavel to gavel what they do.

HARRIS: Yes.

FOREMAN: And then at the end of day I'll wrap it up in "THIS WEEK IN POLITICS." We'll go through a show of that. But we'll be covering it all day.

HARRIS: Can't wait. Cannot wait.

FOREMAN: This is really the decision day of this campaign. We've said it before, but if any day has been, this is the one, and it doesn't involve voting. This is the one that could actually decide whether or not Hillary Clinton is in this race or not. If you care about this race at all, tomorrow is the day you need to watch.

HARRIS: Yes. That's good stuff.

All right. Tom Foreman for us.

Tom, appreciate it. Good to see you.

FOREMAN: Good to see you, Tony.

HARRIS: All right. Tomorrow, again, decision day. We will bring you full coverage as the DNC members debate Florida and Michigan. Our coverage, 9:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The special will be anchored by lead political anchor Wolf Blitzer. He will be joined by the best political team on television.

KAYE: Scott McClellan, the former White House spokesman, releasing a scathing tell-all memoir of his days inside the Bush administration. Among his claims? The Bush White House misled the public on the Iraq war and the president's advisers often failed in their trusted roles. White House officials have blasted McClellan and questioned his motives.

Scott McClellan will be a guest on CNN's "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer. You can catch that this afternoon. "THE SITUATION ROOM" kicks off at 4:00 Eastern.

Gas prices averaging more than $3.96 a gallon this morning, a record. Drivers turning to the Internet to save at the pump, but are Web sites that point you to the cheapest gas actually accurate?

Allan Chernoff hit the road to investigate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Driving into Brooklyn with a tank near empty, hoping to use the Internet to save a few bucks on a fill-up.

(on camera): The zip code here is 11217. Let's punch that in and find some cheap gas.

(voice-over): Automotive.com promoted itself to CNN, so we're checking it first. But the repeated response on the Web site, data is not available. So we begin with a printout from automotive.com, just a half hour old.

(on camera): Automotive.com says the price here is $4.19 a gallon. But the actual price, it's $4.29. When was the last time you were charging $4.19 here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, it was two weeks ago.

CHERNOFF: Two weeks ago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

CHERNOFF: Now the Web site is providing prices online. Automotive.com directs us to a Mobil station on Third Avenue. Turns out though there's no Mobil station here. It's a Citgo.

(on camera): It says you're a Mobil station.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not Mobil.

CHERNOFF: Have you ever been Mobil?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. CHERNOFF: For premium, what are you charging?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For premium, I charged $4.42.

CHERNOFF: Wow. It says $4.32.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: $4.42.

CHERNOFF: Only one of the five stations we checked on automotive.com was entirely accurate. The Web site says the prices come from credit card transactions, but concedes its data provider, which it would not name is not always timely.

JAMES BELL, AUTOMOTIVE.COM: There may be four or five to seven days before a dealer -- sorry, a gas station can upload us with the new information. It then goes into that vendor and then is supplied to automotive.com.

CHERNOFF: There are at least a half dozen Web sites claiming to find cheap gas. Map quest gas prices shows stations in New Jersey when we plug in our Brooklyn zip code. Gasbuddy.com, which relies on spotters who report prices did a better job. This price was accurate. But at this Sunoco the price quoted online was six hours old.

We came to this mobile because gasbuddy said the price was $4.05, and by the time you got here, 4.09. What are you going do? Fill it up and keep on paying.

Allan Chernoff, CNN, Brooklyn, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: And keep watching CNN. Our money team has you covered on all issues affecting your wallet. Join us for a special report. It is called "ISSUE #1: THE ECONOMY." That is today at noon Eastern, only on CNN.

HARRIS: Is al Qaeda on the run? An assessment from the nation's top spy.

Great. Thank you. Thank you.

Let's get you to New York right now and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (I), NEW YORK: The building that was hit was 354 East 91st Street. That's a building across the street.

The building under construction is scheduled to be a 32-story building, and at the moment is something between 10 and 12 stories high. Cement up to about 10th, and the forms for more cement going up to about 12.

Buildings that were evacuated strictly as a precaution, 400 East 91st, 401 East 91st, 403 East 91st, 404 91st. So on First Avenue, 400, 401, 403 and 404 evacuated as a precaution, and 354 was the building that was damaged. And three buildings on First Avenue, 1750, 1752 and 1754, First Avenue. Total, we think, roughly, 160 apartments in all of those buildings together.

Governor, would you like to add anything?

GOV. DAVID PATERSON (D), NEW YORK: Thank you, Mayor.

Our thoughts and sympathy and our prayers go out to the family of the construction worker killed and two construction workers who are in serious condition as we speak. This is a terrible tragedy.

Witnesses to the incident, I'm informed by President Stringer (ph), who got here pretty quickly after the incident, were very, very laudatory about the Office of Emergency Management and all the services that the mayor's offers provided.

You should know that, Mayor, that the residents here were very, very much impressed by how quickly and how professionally they operated.

When this is all over, we're going have to take a look at these crane accidents from March 15th, two days before I was sworn in. We had to go to 51st Street for a similar incident.

I'm going ask the Department of Labor and also the Department of Housing and Community Renewal to look into this a little further. There's no need to speculate now on how this happened. That will all be investigated. But certainly these types of accidents are all too frequent.

Thank you.

BLOOMBERG: Let me just summarize and we'll take a couple of questions.

One fatality, two seriously injured. All construction workers. One pedestrian minor injury. It happened about 8:00 this morning.

It is, incidentally, a different type of crane from the one that collapsed on 51st -- or 52nd Street. So there's no reason to think that the kinds of -- what happened there was what happened here.

It was there during the stepping process when one of the supports fell down, taking out the other supports. And it went over. In this case, the tower itself is still standing.

We'll take a couple of questions.

Sir?

QUESTION: Mayor, what was this crane -- what operation was in the process of performing when it collapsed?

BLOOMBERG: I don't know, but it was being used to construct this building, and it's been an operating crane for a period of time.

Yes, sir?

QUESTION: Mayor, (INAUDIBLE) the acting commissioner, what is wrong at DOB, in your opinion?

BLOOMBERG: I don't think there's any -- you can say there's anything wrong at DOB. DOB didn't crash. It was the crane that collapsed. And the question we have to make sure is, do we have the appropriate level of inspection and the appropriate regulations as to what kind of cranes you can use?

Keep in mind, construction is a dangerous business. And you will always have fatalities. Sadly, this looks -- the two crane collapses in a short period of time look like a pattern, but there's no reason to think that there's any real connection. And there's also no reason to think that our procedures, which we constantly review and improve, aren't whatever we can do.

We have to have a balance between being able to construct. You can make these perfectly safe. Just don't build. And that's not one of the solutions.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

BLOOMBERG: We can't hear.

QUESTION: The people we talked to say they're losing confidence.

BLOOMBERG: Well, people may be losing confidence, but we can't -- we've got to make sure that we do what's appropriate and have the best professionals that we can find inspect our procedures.

Sadly, we have construction accidents all around the world. I'm only concerned about the ones here, and I'm worried about our procedures. But I have enormous confidence in the acting head of our Department of Buildings. And as you know, we have a $4 million program going to take a look at all of our procedures and make sure that they are as safe as they can be.

Yes, sir?

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)

BLOOMBERG: There's no reason to think it looked precarious. And the worker -- the inspector that was here yesterday, was here because there was a complaint of them lifting it -- lifting stuff over the street. And if they had a violation we'd certainly give them a ticket and make sure they don't do it again. But we have no reason to believe that there was anything we could have done to prevent this. Clearly, the crane fell. Three people were very badly hurt, one fatally. So we have to take a look at our procedures again.

But, yes, sir?

QUESTION: What were the two injured construction workers doing at that time? (INAUDIBLE)

BLOOMBERG: We do not have their names. We'll release them later on.

QUESTION: What were they doing (INAUDIBLE)?

BLOOMBERG: One was in the cab. One was on the street and the other, we don't know at this point in time.

Yes, sir?

QUESTION: Mr. Mayor, is there any temporary (INAUDIBLE) or otherwise, to go about it to inspect and re-inspect what you (INAUDIBLE)?

BLOOMBERG: We have reinspected after the last crane, every single crane -- after the last accident -- every single crane in the city.

Clearly, this crane will be out of action for a long period of time. But at some point in time we'll have to find a ways to continue construction in the city. And with high-rises, it means using cranes.

Yes, sir?

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)

BLOOMBERG: We don't know the nationalities of the -- I do not know the nationalities and we haven't -- we will eventually release the names later today.

Yes, sir?

QUESTION: You mentioned that this crane had not been checked because it hadn't been up at the time of the last accident.

BLOOMBERG: But it has been inspected every time it was stepped, which I think is twice already.

So it has been inspected, it just wasn't in that first round because it didn't exist at the time.

QUESTION: Is there any thinking to re-do that procedure of testing, maybe different kinds of testing? Different kinds of checks?

BLOOMBERG: That's what we're going take a look.

Two hours, three hours after the accident, I can't give you a good answer to any of those things.

Let me ask our deputy commissioner, acting commissioner, Bob Limandri, to add some things.

BOB LIMANDRI, ACTING DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF NEW YORK CITY: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, let me go over a couple of details. The first thing that you need to know that this was a 32-story new building that was being constructed. This building was permitted with a crane that we also call as a tower crane. That crane was -- went through a program back from April of this year and I'll give you a few dates.

There was -- based on our new regulations that were put into place after the 51st Street collapse, there was a preinstallation meeting of all the parties concerned in the industry that were going to erect that crane with the department of buildings there. That was on 4/17. Then after that, three days later, the buildings department was there when they started to erect the crane. That crane went up on 4/20, 4/21. After that period of time it erected, it got what we call jumped, twice. That was jumped on 5/22, May 22nd and May 27th. Both of those jumps, the Department of Buildings with its engineers were here.

After that point in time, just yesterday, we got a complaint of hoisting over the street. That is building code violation and we came to the site yesterday. The actual building that's being built, let me give you some other details. The address of the building is 335 East 91th Street, that is the location of the crane. The Architect of Record of the building is James Davidson. The owner of the building is 1765 First Associates. The general contractor is Damattis Construction.

D-e-m-a-t-t-e-i-s.

In addition, this crane is owned by New York Crane Corporation. It was rented by the Sabaro Corporation. The Sabaro Corporation is the concrete contractor that was installing the concrete that will build this building. I'll have to get you that. You'll have to call my press office. Hold on one second. Sorry about that.

In addition, what you need to understand is that when we did the inspections, as part of this crane jump, they were done prior to the jump of the erection and then subsequently afterwards, we did inspections as part of the new protocol. Thank you.

We'll have details for you later today. I know of one so far with regard to the crane.

QUESTION: Sir, have you been able to determine yet, now that you've just come back from the site, what the crane was doing at the time that it collapsed?

LIMANDRI: So, we can get you the details on the stop work order and have that available. At least one.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)

LIMANDRI: I don't have that information.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)

LIMANDRI: I'm sorry? Yesterday we came out to witness to make sure that they were not lifting over the street.

QUESTION: What happened? Were they? Did you find...

LIMANDRI: It's under investigation and I'll let you know. You can call my press office.

Yes?

QUESTION: Are you allowed to continue normal operation?

LIMANDRI: Yes. I would like to let you understand that subsequent to the crane collapse, we identified a $4 million investment. That investment will look at three high-risk areas. Those high-risk areas are crane, safety, excavations and concrete operations. Two of them are right here today.

The idea is that we're bringing on approximately 20 highly- specialized engineers, those engineers will be on the ground and they will do two things. The opportunity of this $4 million investment that the mayor's authorized is to do two things. The first, is to have our inspectors on the ground to be assisted by engineers. And in addition, they will be recording in detail, the industry practices that occur on the job site.

They will also look at the Department of Buildings, construction code. They will look at OSHA regulations. They will look at national standards and they will look at the current regulation scheme that goes towards crane safety and concrete operations. And in addition, they will make recommendations as they see fit. And once that goes into effect we will not wait for a report. We will institute that on a rolling basis.

Thank you.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)

LIMANDRI: At the moment, it's hard to say. I will tell you that a term that the crane industry uses is a turntable. If you were, which is what it rotates upon. That is the piece that has fallen. And when that fell, it fell into the street. The mast was affected which is what the --

QUESTION: Yesterday's investigation, the results of yesterday's investigation has not been released yet?

LIMANDRI: Yesterday's investigation were about an inspection about hoisting over the street, not about the crane and the way it was installed.

I'm sorry.

BLOOMBERG: Let me just add one thing.

LIMANDRI: Sure. BLOOMBERG: I think what has happened is unacceptable and intolerable. Having said that, we do not at the moment know exactly what happened or why. It would appear that the contractor and the building's department followed regulations. Whether those were appropriate or not is what we have to see. And whether or not had we had other regulations, we could have prevented this at this point, we just don't know.

What is true is that two people are very seriously hurt. One is dead. And our prayers go out to their families as the governor said. And we will continue the investigation. We will release all the data as quickly as we can assemble it.

Our first concern here was to stabilize the site and make sure that there is no further injuries to anybody. Second, make sure there is no property damage. Third, make sure that we preserve all of the evidence so that we can find out what exactly happened to the extent possible.

And we'll get back to you with more later in the day. We'll release all of the information through the Department of Buildings' press office.

Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, mayor.

HARRIS: Bloomberg reiterating, restating comments from earlier on his radio show when reacting to the news of the deadly crane collapse at 91st and 1st saying, this is unacceptable, this is intolerable.

The bottom line on this, if you heard from the mayor a moment ago, at least one person confirmed dead. At least two people critically injured. Something else worth noting here: A number of nearby buildings have been evacuated. A total of 160 apartments in all, as a precaution.

We will continue to follow developments in this story and bring you the latest news as we get it right here in the NEWSROOM.

KAYE: Soldier suicides at a record high. I investigate one young man's personal battle on the war front. Did the army do enough?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Soldiers killing themselves at a record rate. The Army confirms 115 troops committed suicide last year.

KAYE: That is slightly below the civilian suicide rate for a comparable population. But it's an all-time high for the military.

I had a chance to talk with the parents of one soldier whose struggles began not long after he went to war.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KAYE (voice-over): He grew up on Fort Bragg. The son of a master sergeant. For Jason Scheuerman, joining the Army was the natural thing to do. He enlisted in 2004, a year later he was in Iraq. In his first week there his parents say a soldier from his unit was killed. Another committed suicide. This confident young man starts to unravel.

ANNE SCHEUERMAN, PFC. JASON SCHEUERMAN'S MOTHER: He said, I'm seeing things, Mom. He goes, I guess I'm seeing visions.

KAYE: Private Scheuerman's military file, obtained by CNN, shows a soldier struggling. He's depressed and suicidal. One fellow soldier says he saw Scheuerman put his rifle in his mouth several times. On June 22nd, his platoon sergeant finds him out of touch with reality and recommends counseling. An Army chaplain advises have his weapon and magazine taken from him immediately and send him for psychiatric evaluation.

A week later this doctor's form shows signs of a nervous breakdown, depression, hopelessness. It asks have you ever had any thoughts pertaining to the following. He checks killing yourself.

KAYE: When somebody feels out of form, saying that he's depressed, anxious, he's only sleeping three hours a night and has had thoughts of killing himself, what do you think should have been done?

CHRIS SCHEUERMAN, PFC. JASON SCHEUERMAN'S FATHER: He should have been on an airplane, launched to Germany. For the treatment that he needed.

KAYE: Early in July, Mrs Scheuerman gets an e-mail from her son, which she interprets as a suicide note. She calls the Army and two days later, Jason is back with the psychologist, denying he feels suicidal. Despite it all, the psychologist writes, Jason does not meet the criteria for any mental disorder. It is my opinion this soldier is capable of claiming mental illness in order to manipulate his command, shirk duty or avoid punishment.

C. SCHEUERMAN: I cannot fathom how my Army let my son down like that. His command had a duty to look out for his safety. They knew what was going on and they failed him.

KAYE: Keeping them honest, we asked the Army if Private Scheuerman's case was handled properly. Army officials said steps had been taken to reduce the risk of suicide and added, "our prevention efforts do help soldiers and their families deal with the war-time challenges they face every day."

(on camera): Would those efforts help this soldier?

In the end Private Sherman was pegged a phony, his behavior determined a hoax. Instead of getting help, he was threatened and punished. Even humiliated in front of Iraqi soldiers by being forced to do push-ups.

Chris Sherman, says the Army took away his son's dignity and made him feel like a coward.

C. SCHEUERMAN: In a million years, I can't imagine this happening. That everyone who saw him, saw how he was suffering and failed to protect him, to help him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: A young American soldier in the war front and fighting an internal battle for his life.

I'll bring you the rest of Private Jason Scheuerman's tragic story in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: We're talking about the record number of Army suicides, 115 last year. That is the latest number from the Army.

Before the break, I told you about Private Jason Scheuerman.

He was severely depressed and told Army officials he thought about killing himself. Fellow soldiers saw him put a gun in his mouth several times. What the Army did may surprise you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE (voice-over): In late June of 2005, Private Jason Scheuerman is under severe stress. The company chaplain says he needs professional help. Instead, he's punished, cut off from his family, denied phone and computer privileges.

C. SCHEUERMAN: The last thing you do to someone you know who is suicidal, is cut off their support group.

KAYE: Seven months after he's deployed to Iraq, Private Scheuerman is punished yet again, for failing to secure his weapon. He's given two weeks of extra duty and told he may face a court- martial and sodomy in military prison.

That night in the closet of his barracks, he puts the rifle into his mouth again. This time, he pulls the trigger.

C. SCHEUERMAN: They said, Mr. Scheuerman, I'm sorry to inform you that your son died in Iraq.

KAYE (on camera): Did they ever indicate that it was suicide?

C. SCHEUERMAN: After a while, they told me it appeared to be from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

KAYE: Did you ask if there was a suicide note?

C. SCHEUERMAN: Yes, I did.

KAYE: What was the response?

C. SCHEUERMAN: That they said no.

KAYE (voice-over): Yet more than a year later a suicide note written by Jason, arrived in his parents' mailbox. It was mixed in with hundreds of documents they had specially-requested from the government. Nobody had told them it had been found, tacked to the wall of the closet where Jason had shot himself.

C. SCHEUERMAN: Maybe finally I can get rid of these demons. Maybe finally I can get some peace. Scheuerman.

A. SCHEUERMAN: It just -- every day it breaks my heart. It breaks my heart because he was reaching out for help.

KAYE: Keeping them honest, we asked the Army why it didn't protect Jason Scheuerman, from himself. The Army refused to answer questions, but in a statement, told us, "the loss of any member of the Army family is a tragedy. And suicide prevention is a top priority for the U.S. Army."

The statement did not address why a soldier who'd been recommended for psychological treatment twice and was seen putting a gun in his mouth, was punished rather than pulled from combat. Two investigations by the Army found no evidence of negligence. Though one said there was a lack of communication among those concerned about Scheuerman. The Army Inspector General had launched a third investigation and the Army has updated its guidelines for mental health screening.

Jason's dad still teaches army medics at Fort Bragg.

KAYE (on camera): How do you feel speaking out against the Army, which you've spend the entire life serving?

C. SCHEUERMAN: Right is right, and wrong is wrong. And what happened to my son was wrong. No one was held accountable.

KAYE (voice-over): Private First Class Jason Scheuerman, is buried about a mile from where he grew up on Fort Bragg.

C. SCHEUERMAN: When I go there I see the little boy. It's hard.

KAYE: One soldier, casualty of war or casualty of a military struggling with the stress of war.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Randi Kaye, what reporting.

KAYE: Tough story.

HARRIS: Yes. I have to ask you, and we're all sort of curious about this, how wide spread is this and why is it happening?

KAYE: The simple answer, Tony, really is that it's too widespread. Last year, 2,100 soldiers attempted suicide. That is six times the rate before the war started. And some of the reasons it might be happening is because we're fighting two wars.

The ranks are thin. There's a lot of pressure to keep these guys on the battlefield, to bring them in no matter what their history is. We've reported on the military bringing in soldiers who had felony records. There's a lot of pressure on recruiters. So they want them to stay there

HARRIS: 115 suicides last year. What's being done about this?

KAYE: Well, the rules are changing.

Right now if a soldier does develop some type of mental illness or mental instability on the field, they -- after just two weeks, if it's not fixed, they're not better, they will be evacuated. They now must be evacuated, sent either to a hospital or home.

HARRIS: These suicides, last year particularly, they fit a profile. Do they have anything in common?

KAYE: They do. Most of the victims are men. I think there were only four women. They're white. Many of them have just ended a relationship, either having done it themselves or been broken up with. One in four who took their lives were on their first deployment. So, obviously, they're having a very hard time adjusting to what they're feeling there.

HARRIS: Just so sad.

KAYE: Sure is.

HARRIS: Randi, Thank you, thank you.

And still to come in the NEWSROOM, Carol Burnett's right hand.

We'll remember a comic genius next in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: We want to take you back now to Orange County, Florida.

We had told you earlier about this construction worker. Well, there you see it. Pictures of him actually being freed. He was apparently trapped under a mound of dirt weighing 18 to 20 tons. The Orange County information officer told us that he was conscious and alert.

This is new video just coming in from our affiliate there, a tape from WESH, in Orange County, Florida. So that is really good news. And this is a picture of the helicopter that will be transporting him, that was transporting him. So very good news for this man trapped under that mound of dirt weighing 18 to 20 pounds in Florida.

HARRIS: Well, what to say? He was so funny. Comedian Harvey Korman, died at the age of 81. Remember this from "Blazing Saddles?" Korman playing a corrupt old west politician? Then there was the "Carol Burnett Show." Harvey Korman and Tim Conway, could bring down the house without saying a word. Korman played the perfect burlesque companion to Burnett and company for 10 seasons.

Korman's family say they died in Los Angeles, from complications of a ruptured aneurysm.

KAYE: It would always crack me up. The two of them on. Neither one of them could keep a straight face.

HARRIS: That's right.

KAYE: One of them would always end up making the other one laugh.

HARRIS: That's for sure.

KAYE: Good stuff.

CNN NEWSROOM continues one hour from now, I'm Randi Kaye.

HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. "ISSUE #1" begins after a check of the headlines.

The latest now, on a story that we have been following since about 8:30 a.m. Eastern time, this morning.

A massive crane toppled from a high rise on Manhattan's East Side. Fire crews say they have pulled people from the wreckage that has swallowed the sidewalks and city streets below. Here is what we know right now. One person is confirmed dead. Two people are seriously injured. Fire crews are digging through the wreckage searching for others.