After more than a day, woman discovered and rescued from partially collapsed building

By Sarah Watson Gretchen Teske

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    DAVENPORT, Iowa (Quad-City Times) — Protestors gathered Monday night at the site of the building collapse in downtown Davenport, saying more people are still missing and could be inside.

By 10 p.m. police pushed protesters back to Harrison and Fourth streets. Police are citing safety issues. Protestors were shouting, concerned they wouldn’t be able to hear survivors from that distance.

Four officers held the crowd back. They did not answer questions from protestors or media.

After Lisa Brooks was rescued Monday afternoon, around 150 protestors gathered at the site of Sunday’s apartment building collapse at 324 Main St. Previously, city officials said demolition was likely to begin Tuesday, but officials Monday night backtracked on a specific timeline. City officials emphasized that the building “is in imminent danger of collapse” in a release Monday night.

Two more people, Ryan Hitchcock and Branden Colvin, are believed by family members to be in the building.

Amy Anderson, Hitchcock’s cousin, said he was like a brother to her. The police have confirmed he is inside because they were able to ping his cell phone before it shut off.

“There is no chance for him to survive this,” Anderson said. He was in Apartment 208.

The family of Colvin, who is also missing, declined to talk with media. People at the scene were carrying signs such as “Where’s Branden, Find him.”

Later in the evening, people continued to hold the signs as police started clearing the area, moving the crowd back to Harrison Street. The city put out a news release at 9:25 p.m. announcing the closure of 4th Street in the area.

“The Davenport Police Department and the Davenport Fire Department are asking the public to be aware of the public safety concerns regarding the stability of the 324 Main Street building and avoid the area. Crews are currently clearing 4th Street between Main Street and Harrison Street, and 4th Street will remained closed until further notice,” the release said.

Earlier in the night, Lisa Brooks called her daughter from the fourth floor of the partially collapsed apartment building.

Her daughter, family and crowd members cheered, yelled and ran to the north-facing side of the building. Her nephew ran to tell fire and police officers.

Brooks waved out the window, and the crowd cheered and chanted “get her out.” Brooks’ nephew, Antoine Smith Jr., had tears in his eyes and thanked God.

Firefighters drove an engine to the north side of the building and raised the bucket ladder to the window to rescue her. She scrambled safely into the bucket and was lowered to the engine, and helped down by firefighters to more cheers from the crowd.

Brooks was transported to a hospital to get checked over.

When Smith saw his aunt waving out the window, he was “overwhelmed with joy,” he said as he hurried back to his car to be by his aunt’s side.

“I burst into an overflow of emotions,” Smith said. “Because I’ve been holding in so much stuff in order to be strong for everybody else, and my family that was down there, trying to keep them calm.”

Brooks’ family has been sitting at the foot of the downtown Davenport building all day Monday, growing increasingly frustrated with the rescue that had up until Monday night not found Brooks.

She is the ninth person to be rescued since Sunday.

City officials had abandoned rescue efforts at about 9:30 a.m. Monday morning, according to a city news release in the afternoon. Street lights were being taken out Monday afternoon to prep the building for demolition, which was expected to begin Tuesday morning.

City officials have said that canine units were used to scour the scene to search for survivors, but no one was found.

Officials have also said the building is now “structurally unsound.” There are structural engineers on site to advise on rescue efforts, Davenport Fire Chief Mike Carlsten said earlier on Monday.

Many in the crowd at the foot of the building, though, wondered if, like Brooks, there were others missing and in the building, too.

Chief Strategy Officer Sarah Ott said at the scene after Brooks was rescued that the scheduled demolition was under evaluation.

In a city news release Monday night, city officials said the building “remains in imminent danger of collapse with the condition of the site continuing to worsen.”

“It is the opinion of the structural engineer that the debris pile is currently contributing to the stability of the building and that removal could jeopardize or accelerate the inevitable collapse of the building,” the news release said.

“Building officials are working with Valley Construction on a plan to safely dismantle and demolish the remaining structure.”

Previously, Ott, had said the property was ordered to be demolished, which she said would likely begin Tuesday. But currently, there is no updated timeline for demolition.

There are “unaccounted individuals that were residents of the property,” according to the city, and the Police Department has been working to get in touch them, including contacting the families of the people who are missing.

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