Worker killed as he lands on car after 800ft fall from city’s tallest skyscraper

An electrician has died after falling more than 800ft (245 metres) from a Los Angeles skyscraper which will be the tallest on the West Coast once it is completed. The worker, who was on his second day of the project, fell from the 53rd floor of the Wilshire Grand Center. He landed on the back edge of a passing car. Its driver did not appear to be seriously hurt but was taken to a hospital. One construction worker said: “We asked the driver: ‘Did you run this man over?’ She said no. That’s when I knew he had fallen off the building.”

It sounded like a bag of cement fell off the edge of the building

Witness Mel Melcon

The incident happened at one of the busiest times of day at one of the busiest intersections in downtown Los Angeles. Witnesses said the man was not wearing a hard hat or safety harness when he fell. Turner Construction, the company which manages the building site, said the worker had no reason to be above the third floor. Safety protections were not a factor in the fall, it said. The building project was closed on Friday “to honor our workforce and out of respect,” and counsellors would be available to help workers through “this very difficult situation,” the company added.

I thought that it was a piece of metal that they had dropped from the building

Witness Alesia Lewis

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