1 dead, 1 hurt in scaffold collapse on UES

  Eyewitness News

NEW YORK (WABC) -- A window washer was killed and his brother injured in a scaffold collapse at an Upper East Side skyscraper Friday morning.

Authorities say the scaffolding collapsed in the rear of 265 East 66th Street just before 10:30 a.m.

Eyewitness News reporter NJ Burkett has more.

Officials say one of the workers came crashing down with debris from the 46-story building. He reportedly landed in the plaza outside the building. Authorities say he died on impact.

The fall these men took was horrifying, a 43-story free fall after the scaffolding gave way.

Officials are investiging why the collapse happened.

Residents of the building seemed traumatized, and some actually saw the men falling.

"Apparently, they were on the scaffolding, which failed," FDNY Deputy Chief Tom McKavanagh said. "And the entire scaffolding unit, which they stand on, fell 43 stories into the basement, and onto the plaza."

"I just, it's horrible," one resident said. "Everyone in the building is just extremely upset. We're devastated to know this could have happened."

Residents say this pair of brothers cleaned the windows roughly every three months, so they are fairly well-known to the residents.

Police will only identify the victims as two men in their 30s.

The structure, formally known as the Solow Tower Apartments, is a 301-unit, gray-glass apartment building completed in 1979.

It was the subject of a 1988 law suit where nearly a third of the 300 tenants held a rent strike

The building was designed by Gruzen Partnership for developer Sheldon Solow.

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