Witness tells of clandestine work at Center City collapse site

Three months behind on his contract to demolish a four-story Center City building and frustrated by the Salvation Army's refusal to let his workers on the adjacent roof of its thrift store, contractor Griffin Campbell came up with another plan.

For three nights before the deadly June 5, 2013 collapse that killed six people, Campbell had two workers take a ladder, climb atop the Salvation Army's roof, and try to reduce an unsupported three-story brick wall under cover of darkness.

That was the testimony Tuesday of Juan Cajas, a 38-year-old carpenter who worked for Campbell for two years, who told a Philadelphia jury how he and a coworker spent about five hours a night chipping away at the wall's height with hammers and pry bars.

"Did you notice anything about this wall?" asked Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Selber.

"There was movement when you used the bar," Cajas replied through a Spanish interpreter.

Cajas said he was sleeping in at 10:41 a.m. on June 5 when the wall toppled and flattened the one-story Salvation Army store at 22d and Market Streets.

Later that day, Cajas said, he talked to Campbell and asked what happened.

"He said he didn't know because the person operating the machinery was only supposed to clean up," Cajas said, referring to the excavator picking at a beam in the remaining floors of the Hoagie City building minutes before the wall fell.

The jury of eight women and four men also heard testimony from three workers inside the thrift store, who described the moment their building imploded around them.

Rodney Geddis, 24, began weeping as he said that he survived because of a split-second decision to switch job stations with another worker.

Geddis said he was working in the basement of the thrift store among donated electronics when manager Margarita "Margie" Agosta called him upstairs to hang a picture. Agosta did not want worker Borbor Davis, 68, climbing to hang the picture so Davis took Geddis' place in the basement.

Geddis said he remembered things falling and then the ceiling caved in. He said he awoke outside on a stretcher. Davis was one of the six who died.

Geddis said he had a "tight relationship" with Davis, who he said "taught me a lot of things about how to do my job."

"I think about Mr. Borbor every day," Geddis said, wiping away tears. "If Margie didn't ask me to hang that picture, I wouldn't be here today."

Three of Campbell's employees on the demolition job have testified so far at the Hunting Park contractor's trial on six counts of third-degree murder, 12 counts of reckless endangerment, and one of aggravated assault for the six killed and 13 injured.

Earlier Tuesday, former demolition worker Eric Sullivan testified that he left the site June 1, 2013, after he challenged Campbell about his demolition method.

Questioned by defense attorney William D. Hobson about what Sullivan said he told Campbell, Sullivan said he warned that the unsupported three-story party wall above the Salvation Army building was in "dangerous condition."

Sullivan said he if had been in charge of the demolition, he would have halted work on June 1, 2015 to protect public safety.

Despite their disagreement with Campbell about the way the building was being demolished, all three former employees described him as a good boss and a good person.

Prosecutors allege that Campbell chose profit over safety to maximize the salvage value of the 123-year-old wood beams, joists, and floors, leaving the three-story party wall unsupported and unstable.

Only Campbell, 51, and 44-year-old Sean Benschop, the excavator operator he hired, have been criminally charged in the collapse.

Benschop pleaded guilty July 21 to six counts of involuntary manslaughter, 12 counts of reckless endangerment, one count of aggravated assault, and related charges in a deal with prosecutors for a 10- to 20-year prison term. Benschop will testify, prosecutors said.

Campbell rejected the same prosecution plea offer and Hobson has argued that Campbell has been made the scapegoat for wealthy developers, professionals, and city officials who he said should also have been criminally charged.

jslobodzian@phillynews.com

215-854-2985@joeslobo

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