MIAMI _ In wrapping up a 19-month probe last week, a federal transit safety board blamed the fatal bridge collapse at Florida International University on a major design error and a complete lack of oversight, calling the accident "astounding."
Now, Miami-Dade prosecutors and homicide detectives may decide if those mistakes crossed the line into criminal negligence _ and if the company that designed the bridge, Tallahassee-based FIGG Bridge Engineers, as well as other individuals and entities overseeing the project, should be charged with manslaughter. Engineers who worked on the bridge are also likely to face investigation from the state's licensing board. Six people died in the March 15, 2018, collapse.
Florida law is generally favorable to construction companies after accidents, and legal experts say a criminal case would be challenging.
But the Oct. 22 release of an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board, which included more than 6,000 pages of interview transcripts, design analysis, materials tests and internal project communications, could serve as a "road map" for a potential prosecution, said Paul Ware, a Massachusetts attorney who worked as a special prosecutor in a high-profile case in Boston where a contractor was indicted for manslaughter.
The NTSB concluded that FIGG's design error caused the accident. It faulted FIU, the Florida Department of Transportation, FIGG and other private companies on the project for failing to close down Tamiami Trail despite structural cracks developing in the bridge that were 40 times larger than acceptable standards. Ware believes criminal charges are likely, given that the NTSB said the road should have been shut down based on the size of the cracks.
"It's almost inevitable that the engineering firm itself, and possibly individuals associated with the project, will be charged for manslaughter by culpable negligence," Ware said. "The issue at trial is going to be what would a prudent engineer who saw these cracks conclude? What steps would then be taken?"
FIGG did not respond to requests for comment.
The Miami-Dade Police Department opened a homicide investigation immediately after the pedestrian foot bridge collapsed.
Miami-Dade's homicide bureau _ which investigates unnatural deaths, including suicides, fatal plane crashes and industrial accidents _ is spearheading the investigation into the six deaths. Detectives have had regular access to witness statements and reports provided by the NTSB.
The decision on whether to file charges will ultimately fall to Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, who is up for reelection in 2020. She drew criticism shortly after the collapse for telling TV reporters that charges appeared "improbable at this point."
She later defended herself, telling The Miami Herald she was speaking in general about "the complexity of these cases."
"Our office is clearly going to wait until all these investigative agencies put the evidence together and we are going to follow the evidence," she said at the time. "If criminal charges are warranted, they will be filed."
Fernandez Rundle, through a spokesman, declined to comment for this story. The spokesman, Ed Griffith, issued this statement:
"As the NTSB Board of Directors have publicly adopted their final report, this will release thousands of pages of documents to the prosecutors involved in the ongoing criminal investigation of the bridge collapse. Such a treasure trove of information may provide additional insights and evidence to those who have long labored to fully understand this tragic incident."
The office has charged companies and people involved in large-scale accidents in the past. In charging companies, prosecutors aren't necessarily seeking jail time, but financial penalties and to send a message about public safety.
Miami-Dade prosecutors charged an aviation company with third-degree felony murder and manslaughter in the 1996 accidental crash of ValuJet 592. The state accused SabreTech, a contracted company, of negligently handling oxygen generators that were placed inside the plane, causing the crash that killed more than 100 people.
The charges were dropped as part of a plea deal when the defunct SabreTech agreed to pay $500,000.
But the State Attorney's Office had less success when it charged outdoor sign company Eller Media, which, along with an electrician, was accused of manslaughter in the electrocution of a 12-year-old boy at one of its bus shelters.
Prosecutors said that jury-rigged electrical wiring was gross negligence and led to the boy's death. Defense attorneys argued that a lightning strike could have killed the boy _ jurors agreed, acquitting Eller and the electrician in 2001.
In other states, prosecutors have sometimes sought to hold companies criminally accountable for construction disasters.
In Massachusetts, a contractor was indicted on involuntary manslaughter charges after a woman was killed when a portion of the ceiling of Boston's "Big Dig" public works project collapsed in 2006. The company was accused of knowingly supplying an insufficient adhesive blamed for the accident.
The company ultimately paid $16 million to settle criminal and civil charges, according to Reuters.
But many other accidents have ended with no one held criminally liable, including the case of a Minnesota interstate bridge that collapsed during rush hour, killing 13 people.
In the FIU bridge case, the State Attorney's Office may well consult independent experts to review the evidence in the case to help determine whether negligence was so "gross" that it amounted to a "reckless disregard for human life," the standard for proving manslaughter.
A likely target would be FIGG, which designed the bridge as part of a much ballyhooed project aimed at highlighting the growth of FIU's prominence. The walkway would connect the campus to Sweetwater, where many students live, and even feature Wi-Fi to encourage them to utilize a soaring public space.
The NTSB repeatedly criticized FIGG's design work on the unique concrete truss bridge. At an Oct. 22 hearing in Washington, D.C., to determine the collapse's cause, NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt said the errors would have been caught "before concrete was ever poured" if the company had done adequate peer review of the plans.
The project's engineer of record, FIGG's W. Denney Pate, told FDOT and other contractors on the project that the cracks were not a safety threat before the deadly collapse, even though he and his team could not explain their cause. Those structural cracks should have been seen as a clear warning sign of the bridge's structural weakness, according to the NTSB.
The cracks were "screaming that there was something definitely wrong with this bridge and yet no one was listening," Sumwalt said during the hearing.
Pate did not return a phone call on Tuesday.
FIGG recommended the cracks be addressed with epoxy injections, according to records released by federal investigators. It then decided to have workers tighten up steel bars inside the structure in an effort to close up the cracks. But the emergency work pushed the failing 950-ton bridge to collapse. Five drivers and one construction worker died. The NTSB said that work should have been signed off on by an independent engineer, something that never happened _ and said everyone involved in the project should have acted to shut down the road.
"Further contributing to the collapse was the failure of the FIGG engineer of record to identify the significance of the structural cracking observed in this node before the collapse and to obtain an independent peer review of the remedial plan to address the cracking," the NTSB wrote in its probable cause finding. "Contributing to the severity of the collapse outcome was the failure of (general contractor) MCM; FIGG; (inspectors) Bolton, Perez and Associates Consulting Engineers; FIU; and the Florida Department of Transportation to cease bridge work when the structure cracking reached unacceptable levels and to take appropriate action to close SW 8th Street as necessary to protect public safety."
Legal experts say that Miami-Dade prosecutors would have to prove that leaving the road open during the tightening, despite the glaring cracks, amounted to gross negligence.
The emergency work "was equivalent to pulling the trigger on a gun that killed six people," said David Beck, a New Hampshire-based engineer who reviewed the FIU bridge plans for The Miami Herald.
It wouldn't be an easy case to take to a jury.
Retired Miami-Dade prosecutor David I. Gilbert, who was part of the team on the Eller Media case, said proving manslaughter cases in such construction accidents is difficult. Bureaucrats, contractors, engineers, inspectors all rely on each other's professional judgments, he said, and under the law, you can't hold one criminally responsible for another's failing.
"Everything becomes a contest of experts, and that's always going to be difficult," Gilbert said. "Just proving they made an error doesn't mean it was a grossly negligent error."
Still, the NTSB's findings would strengthen potential charges in the bridge collapse. While it's rare for the federal agency's investigators to testify in state cases, it can be done if approved by the NTSB's attorney, according to federal regulations.
"The NTSB has no axe to grind," said Ware, the former Big Dig prosecutor. "Their entire purpose is the safety of the public. They are widely viewed as dispassionate and credible in terms of their scientific judgment. They are a formidable witness."
Families of those killed in the collapse, and survivors of the tragedy, welcome the criminal probe.
Orlando Duran _ whose 18-year-old daughter, FIU student Alexa Duran, died in the collapse, said: "I sure hope the State Attorney's Office is paying attention to see if there's grounds to take this to the next level in terms of criminal charges."
"It's always up to Kathy Rundle and her office based on the evidence," said Alan Goldfarb, the Duran family's attorney.
Prosecutors could file charges directly or seek an indictment from a grand jury, a body that could also examine broader issues of public safety and recommend changes that might prevent such catastrophes in the future.
As prosecutors work toward a decision on potential criminal charges, a civil investigation is likely to unfold as well _ experts say state regulators could suspend licenses and even fine people who worked on the project, including the chief engineer who declared cracks in the bridge did not pose a safety hazard.
"Gross negligence appears to be the case here with a number of parties," said Beck, the outside engineer. "Having the (engineer of record) on the bridge project so publicly state that the cracks did not pose a safety hazard ... should make the public question the judgment of any professional engineer."
In Florida, engineers are licensed by the Florida Board of Professional Engineers, whose members are appointed by the governor. Engineers can be investigated if they are accused of professional misconduct. If the charges are sustained by the board, they can have their license stripped, suspended or face other discipline. Engineers can demand a hearing before an administrative law judge to contest those sanctions.
They then have the option of taking cases up to the state's District Courts of Appeal. Investigations are handled by the Florida Engineers Management Corporation, the board's administrative arm.
Until administrative charges are filed or the case closed out, investigations remain confidential.
"I can neither confirm nor deny that we have any cases relating to the FIU bridge," said John Rimes, FEMC's vice president and prosecuting attorney.
