Seeing bias, NAACP seeks review in building collapse case

FILE – In this June 5, 2013, file photo, emergency workers respond to a building collapse that killed six people in downtown Philadelphia. The NAACP's Philadelphia branch petitioned Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams on Wednesday, March 1, 2017, to review the convictions of black demolition workers Sean Benschop and Griffin Campbell, the only two people prosecuted following the collapse. (AP Photo/Dino Hazell, File) (The Associated Press)

prev next

FILE – This undated file photo provided by the Philadelphia Police Department shows Griffin Campbell, an unlicensed Philadelphia demolition contractor sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison after a jury convicted him of crimes related to the June 5, 2013, collapse of a building in the city's downtown that killed six people. The NAACP's Philadelphia branch petitioned Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams on Wednesday, March 1, 2017, to review the convictions of Campbell and another black demolition worker, Sean Benschop, the only two people prosecuted for the collapse. (Philadelphia Police Department via AP, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE – This undated file photo provided by the Philadelphia Police Department shows Sean Benschop, a Philadelphia demolition subcontractor and immigrant from Guyana, who was sentenced to 7 1/2 to 15 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to crimes related to the June 5, 2013, collapse of a building in the city's downtown that killed six people. The NAACP's Philadelphia branch petitioned Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams on Wednesday, March 1, 2017, to review the convictions of black demolition workers Sean Benschop and Griffin Campbell, the only two people prosecuted following the collapse. (Philadelphia Police Department via AP, File) (The Associated Press)

PHILADELPHIA – The NAACP wants Philadelphia's top prosecutor to review the convictions of two black demolition workers serving long manslaughter sentences in a fatal building collapse.

The civil rights group's Philadelphia chapter says District Attorney Seth William's office engaged in "selective prosecution" based on race when he failed to charge the white building owner and other key figures.

Williams is black. His office declined comment Tuesday on the NAACP petition.

Six people were killed when a building being demolished collapsed on an adjacent Salvation Army store in 2013. A civil jury recently found the charity, building owner Richard Basciano (BAHS'-ee-ah-noh) and his architect largely responsible for $227 million in damages.

But only the contractor, Griffin Campbell, and a machine operator, Sean Benschop, were prosecuted. Campbell is serving a 15- to 30-year term and Benschop half that time.