Window Cleaning Platform Falls at 811 Wilshire

Eric Richardson

Eric Richardson

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — I haven't been down on the street, so I don't know how this is playing out there, but within the last ten minutes the window cleaning platform just fell off the building at 811 Wilshire. It's the midground light grey building in the photo.

I believe the platform was all the way raised when it suddenly broke loose. LAFD paramedics have responded. I would be most worried about pedestrians on the sidewalk below.

From here we can see worried scurrying of maintenance workers at the top of the building but not what's happening on the sidewalk.

Update (1pm): Unbelievably, no one was hurt. I don't know exactly the sequence of events that led to the fall, but I'd put a guess on them still being in the setup process when the accident occured. That makes it more likely they had a couple people on the ground watching.

In any case, it's amazing that a big chunk of metal could fall twenty floors onto the sidewalk at lunch time with no casualties.