Supervisor in 2007 Deutsche Bank building fire cleared of all charges

A Manhattan jury today acquitted a senior construction supervisor of wrongdoing in the deaths of two firefighters at the former Deutsche Bank building in Lower Manhattan in 2007, the Wall Street Journal reported. The supervisor, Jeffrey Melofchik, had been on trial for manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, among several other charges, and was one of three supervisors charged in connection with the case. An asbestos abatement supervisor at the building was found not guilty of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment by the same jury yesterday. Melofchik had been working as a site safety manager for Bovis Lend Lease at the time of the fire, and was accused of failing to fix a faulty standpipe that would have otherwise allowed the two men who died to get water while fighting the blaze. Melofchik has since been let go from Bovis and had not been working at all since the start of his trial in April. [WSJ]