Detroit apartment walkway collapses, 2 injured after buried in rubble

DETRIOT (WJBK) - Two people were rushed to the hospital Sunday after the walkway of a Detroit apartment building collapsed, dropping them from the third floor.

A man and a woman buried beneath the rubble at Anthos Gardens apartments on the city's east side when a walkway on the third floor collapsed. Witness Robyn Williams says they were walking on the third floor when it broke, then they slid to the second floor and that broke, and slide down to the first floor -- the second and third floors falling on top of them.

Other residents of the apartment complex rushed in to rescue them. A man was critically injured and a woman bruised.

"Scared - nervous, didn't know if the rest of this was about to fall with it," Williams said.

City inspectors condemned that part of the building, revealing this isn't the first time they've been here. They say an inspection a year ago turned up a number of issues and a number of tickets, but it is unclear if any repairs had been made. The city says now it will go building-to-building to see if it's safe to live there.

FOX 2 tried contacting the people in charge of the property from Silverside Management, but Joseph Brophy hung up and Sean McAlpine did not want to be interviewed. McAlpine was onsite Monday and says architects and engineers are working on a solution. He told Fox 2 that Silverside is helping with relocating the 24 people who've had to leave their apartments.

But residents are worried, based on conditions, this could easily happen again, and more people could lose their homes. The parking lot is also littered with potholes and the dumpsters are overflowing with garbage.

Marla Trotter lives above a boarded up apartment that was destroyed in a fire in October. Her third floor walkway is burned and orange fencing blocks her access, but she says management told her to climb over it and the working grandmother has nowhere else to go, so she stays.

Fox 2 went back to Sean McAlpine to tell him about Marla, hoping they'll get her a safer place to live while improving conditions throughout the complex.