my moms and mine good friend died today. he worked on fire excapes he fell 7 stories down today. on state street in chicago.
R.I.P BUDDY
please put his family and friends in your prayers
heres the story
Loop worker dies in fall from fire escape
By Dan P. Blake
Tribune staff reporter
Published June 13, 2006, 7:32 PM CDT
Federal and local officials are investigating why part of a fire escape gave way on a Loop high-rise early Tuesday, causing the owner of an iron working company to plunge to this death from the 7th-floor structure.
William Koonce, 55, was repairing the fire escape at 17 N. State St. when it "flipped" and he fell through a handrail, said his son, Timothy , who was inside the building when the accident occurred. He said another worker was on the structure but did not fall.
"We heard a scream and a bunch of steel falling and then looked to the ground," Timothy Koonce said.
William Koonce, of the 13600 block of Long Avenue in Crestwood, was pronounced dead at Northwestern Memorial Hospital about 4:30 a.m. An autopsy found that he died from multiple injuries in the fall, a Cook County medical examiner's spokeswoman said. The death was ruled accidental.
The U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration is investigating the accident, said Gary Anderson, the area director for the OSHA office in Calumet City.
Anderson said there had been no previous OSHA violations at William Koonce's company, B & K Iron Works. He said the investigation, which would last a few weeks, would find whether any violations contributed to Koonce's death.
Working that early in the morning is not a violation, Anderson said.
A spokesman for the city's Buildings Department said Koonce and the other worker were conducting routine maintenance on the fire escape.
Timothy Koonce described his father as "a good person with a kind heart."
William Koonce often would repair fire escapes in the downtown Chicago area, his son said.
An official at the realty company listed as owner of the building declined to comment Tuesday.
Tribune staff reporter Jason Meisner contributed to this report.
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