Off and on all day Friday I had been trying to reach the project manager for a vendor who’s helping me rehaul our internal field site Before I get ahead of myself here – she’s fine. It just seemed wierd that no matter how I tried, I could not get a hold of her. Or anyone on the team. Around 4pm I received an auto-responder from their office.
A crane fell on their building. About twenty hours before.
Nov 18, 2006
The Seattle TimesOffices of at least three businesses in the Plaza 305 building in downtown Bellevue are closed indefinitely after Thursday’s construction-crane accident.
Workers shuttled in and out of a Pacific Continental Bank branch, removing confidential documents because of severe damage to the building. Clients were told they could do their banking online, over the phone or at a branch in downtown Seattle.
At Civica Office Commons, windows were shattered in the offices of developer Schnitzer Northwest and public-relations firm Waggener Edstrom Worldwide when the crane slammed into the north tower of the complex. A Wells Fargo branch on the ground floor remained closed while workers removed debris.
I wonder now, how was it I was able to pick up a random news bite about a bomb going off at eBay in another state between the gossip and traffic on Jackie and Bender’s Morning Show – but I didn’t so much as hear a peep all day about a crane falling on three buildings less than ten miles from where I work?
But as much of a total ass I felt sitting at my desk that evening, reading about how completely clueless I’d been of a major disaster right down my street, in reality I only focused on that for about a half a second. Because the whole thing got a lot, lot worse.
Nov 17, 2006
KING / KING5.com Staff and Wire Reports
BELLEVUE, Wash. – The man who died in when a crane crashed into his apartment Thursday evening was 31-year-old Matthew Ammon, a patent attorney for Microsoft.He had only worked there for five months, after moving from Kansas City. Ammon was originally from the Pittsburgh area, according to general counsel for Microsoft Brad Smith.
The 210-foot crane collapsed around 7:45 p.m. at the high-rise complex construction project on 108th Avenue NE near NE 4th Street, at 333 Bellevue Tower, which is an office building that has been vacant for a few years.
It smashed into the west side of the Pinnacle Bell Centre Apartments, killing Ammon, who lived on the top floor. It also sliced through two other buildings, the Civica Office Commons and Plaza 305.
Part of downtown Bellevue remained shut down Friday as investigators searched for what caused the construction crane to come crashing down Thursday night.
I didn’t know Matthew. I doubt that given another three, five, ten years on campus, I would ever even meet him. But do I know he was out here just like the rest of us, trying to accomplish something. I know he was probably kicking back watching a football game at the time of the accident. I know he was just one year younger than me, and I know that he had no expectation at all of what crashed down on him that night.
I’m sorry for his family. I’m sorry for him. But mostly I’m sorry for all those tomorrows, second chances, and next times he no longer has that I take for granted every day.
And I’m sorry that a month from now, I probably still will.
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