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Aftermath of the June 2013 building collapse on Market Street. AL DÍA file photo.

In wake of Market St. conviction, remember the 6 lives lost

Griffin Campbell, 51, was sentenced yesterday for involuntary manslaughter in the building collapse that killed six.

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A contractor from Hunting Park was charged Monday with involuntary manslaughter for the 2013 Market Street building collapse, which killed six and injured 13. The Common Pleas Court jury acquitted Griffin Campbell, 51, of third-degree murder charges, but Campbell will could face up to five years jail time for each count of manslaughter.

Still, a conviction does not address the fact that, in the two years since this preventable tragedy, the city’s Department of Licenses and Inspections has turned at least one blind eye to illegal demolition. The department has been criticized for “awarding firms” with outstanding code violations. City Council has passed a host of bills aimed at beefing up demolition reform, but there remains work to be done.

With Campbell’s conviction, we remember the six lives lost in the catastrophe. They were everyday Philadelphians. Some were working and some shopping in the Salvation Army thrift store at 22nd and Market Street on that fateful June day when the building next door came down on top of them.

Anne Bryan, 24, was a promising art student at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, whose family said she “possessed a passion for the arts and an ability to find beauty in everything around her.” She was on a shopping trip with her friend, 24-year-old Mary Simpson who always died. Simpson was described as an audio engineer and a gifted figure skater.

Roseline Conteh, 52, had immigrated from Sierra Leone to become a nurse. She did. A grieving niece said at the time that the family sacrificed everything to make it to this country — “...they did not come here to die.” Another relative described Conteh as “a mother to everybody.”

Then there was Babor Davis, 68, who immigrated to the U.S. from Liberia. Davis had been working at the Salvation Army store for five years. He and his wife, Maggie Davis, were role models in their church, WHYY reported after the collapse. They had recently been honored as “mother and father of the year.”

Kimberly Finnegan, 35, was working her very first shift as a cashier at Salvation Army when the building next door collapsed. Just days before she had gotten engaged, according to the Daily News.

A retired secretary at the University of Pennsylvania was also among the victims. Juanita Harmon, 75, visited the thrift store every Wednesday to catch the bargains, 6ABC reported. “He house was full of ornamental things,” a brother said.

For those injured, Griffin Campbell was also found guilty of 13 counts of reckless endangerment, aggravated assault, and causing a catastrophe, according the courts. The combined total sentence for charges could be anywhere from 30-50 years.

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