Scott County Attorney Kelly Cunningham says she found nothing to hold anyone criminally responsible in the 2023 partial collapse of a Davenport apartment building.
Cunningham made the decision after reviewing the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation report on the collapse, which killed three people and caused one woman to lose her leg. “When you look at the issue of whether or not criminal charges are to be filed, very simply, you have to have the commission of a crime. This, very simply, was the structural failure of a building,” she says.
Cunningham says building owner, Andrew Wold had been actively trying to get the building fixed, and flooding played a role in the building’s collapse, and Wold did not commit any crimes. “That’s what is required to prove involuntary manslaughter. So you have to have the commission of a crime that results in the unintentional death of an individual, or, you have to, you know, have engaged in some sort of reckless conduct that results in the death of an individual.”
Cunningham says a jury in the lawsuits against Wold will have to decide whether the collapse was caused by negligence since negligence is a civil concept, not a criminal one.
(By James Kelley, Iowa Public Radio)