On March 8^th, 2010, Ames Lomma and Tibor Varganyi, owner and former mechanic for New York Crane and Equipment respectively were charged with multiple counts of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, assault and reckless endangerment.

The case dates back to May 30, 2008, when the defendants’ crane at a high-rise construction site at the Upper East Side of New York City, collapsed and killed two persons and seriously injured a third.

According to the case, there was a crack within the crane’s turntable in 2007 due to construction at another high-rise project. The Company realized that a replacement turntable from a reputable manufacturing company will cost them a hefty price.

In order to save themselves from such expenses, the defendants relied on a bearing manufacturer based in China, RTR Bearing to produce the replacement part for more than half the price. However, defendants relied on RTR’s unverified representations on their website and hired them to do the job without conducting any thorough research.

They also failed to inspect the welding job after the replacement was done on the crane’s turntable.  As a result the welding failure on crane caused the crane’s upper sections to break off and fall to the sidewalk and street at 200 feet.

The collapse killed the crane operator and ground level worker. Another worker who was working inside the building at the time of the collapse, was heavily injured from the debris,

Both defendants were charged with manslaughter in the 2^nd degree, assault in the 2^nd degree, 2 counts of criminally negligent homicide, and reckless endangerment in the 2^nd degree, punishable of a maximum sentence of 53 years imprisonment.