Family of man killed in Youngstown bank explosion files wrongful death lawsuit
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Family members of a man from Penn Hills killed in the gas explosion in Youngstown, Ohio, less than two weeks ago are now suing.
Akil Drake, 27, was working at the J.P. Morgan Chase branch in the Realty Tower in Youngstown on May 28 when an explosion ripped through the building.
Drake's mother and sister filed a wrongful death lawsuit on Saturday. The complaint said the 2015 Penn Hills graduate was hurt during the explosion and couldn't get out of the building. The document said he died in pain, afraid, and alone.
"They want every person and company who was involved in causing this explosion to occur and causing this death to be held accountable," said Ben Whitman, a partner at Clark Fountain law firm.
The lawsuit accuses several companies of negligence, including the building owner, the construction company working in the basement that day and the utility companies that own the natural gas line.
"Not only did their family suffer this loss, but really the whole community lost a young man who had a bright future ahead. And they are saddened by this, and they hope this lawsuit will prevent things like this from happening in the future," Whitman said.
The National Transportation Safety Board said construction workers cut a gas line that triggered the explosion, killing Drake. The new lawsuit said the crew was short two people and a supervisor wasn't at the scene.
Whitman said investigators don't know what happened between the time the gas started leaking and when it exploded, but it's well known that natural gas is highly flammable and dangerous.
"When companies and people are dealing with natural gas that can explode, especially in confined spaces like in a basement, the utmost care must be taken to make sure that all laws, rules, regulations and industry standards are followed. And put simply, this should not happen, and something like this only occurs when those rules aren't followed," he said.
The family is seeking judgment for Drake's death, medical and funeral expenses, loss of inheritance, and all other damages including pain and suffering.
"Mr. Drake was at work when this happened. He was hard at work in the bank, he was earning money and if he hadn't been killed, he would have continued to earn money for his whole life. So, his estate has claim for the loss of that earning," Whitman said.
The NTSB is still investigating, and Whitman said he and other lawyers are doing their independent investigation.
"The lawyers involved, and the clients commend all the first responders and all the investigating agencies, we are doing our own independent investigation. We have hired experts that are already working on this," he said.
He said it's likely that the complaint will be amended to add more facts and companies as they learn more about what went wrong. They're planning to add the engineer and architect company that drew up the plans that were being used when the explosion happened to the suit.
"Our goal in this case is to identify everyone who is accountable and make sure that these companies behave safer so that no other family has to go through what my clients are going through right now," Whitman said.