Woman Dies After Parking Deck Collapse At SouthPark Mall

One person died shortly after a section of a parking deck collapsed at SouthPark Mall.

A Hyundai sedan jumped a curb and hit the wall off a curve on the top level of the deck between Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom, causing the deck to partially collapse around 12:18 p.m., said Capt. Rob Brisley of the Charlotte Fire Department. The car fell into the opening and evidence of the severity of the impact – a broken planter and scattered flowers and dirt – spread across the cracked concrete.

The work at the mall continued into Thursday night after the garage collapse.

A crane was brought in to help lift the car out of the gaping hole in the parking deck. That car was towed away around 7:00 p.m. Other cars stuck for hours in the garage, were finally allowed to leave.

Eyewitness News spoke to shoppers stopping by to look at the scene.

"I couldn't imagine something so strong could fall like that, its hard to believe, it's scary," said Jennie Proto.

By night's end, the crews went home. Only police officers were left to make sure no one went into the garage.

Ron Hodnett, who had just gotten to the mall to Christmas shop with his wife, saw the whole thing happen. He said he saw the woman trying to grip her chest in pain, seconds before she crashed.

"I'm not sure if she had a heart attack or what, then she just hit the accelerator," he said.

Hodnett ran to help as his wife called 911, but he said the deck began to collapse even more.

“I feel sad. I thought maybe I could do something else for the lady,” he said.

Eric Morrison, spokesman for MEDIC, said the woman who had been in the car died at the scene, but it’s unclear if she died from injuries sustained during the collapse or from natural causes. Her name has not been released.

Three ambulances responded to the scene, as well as the city’s mass casualty unit. Firefighters searched the debris under the fallen portion of the deck but did not find anyone. Capt. Rob Brisley of the Charlotte Fire Department said two vehicles underneath were destroyed.

“We had additional firefighters that very carefully searched some of the damaged vehicles. We searched the whole parking deck to make sure everybody's accounted for," he said.

The collapse was limited to a small section of the parking deck, but the entire deck was closed for the day. Late Thursday afternoon, most shoppers who were already parked there when the collapse happened were let back into the deck a few at a time to retrieve their cars. Engineers spent several hours checking the stability of the structure before anyone was allowed to enter.

Kathryn Cole, 20, was among several shoppers who had parked in the deck and was frustrated that authorities didn't immediately let people back into the nearly full structure to retrieve their cars. "I'm concerned how I'm going to get home," said Cole, a student at Davidson College, about 30 miles from the mall.

"Being without your vehicle is unfortunate, but we want you to get it safely," Brisley said.

Stacy Watson said she was relieved when she saw the damage.

“Well I'm glad it didn't collapse down. When I heard there was a garage collapse, I thought it was just going to be a big pile of cars,” she said.

About 50 people will not be able to get their cars for some time. Those cars are in the area immediately around the collapse, which is still unsafe.

County Spokesman Alex Burnett said the structure never failed a building inspection during its construction in 2003 or since. In fact, all indications are that the collapse was caused completely by the crash – the impact of the car slamming into the wall. Chopper 9 spotted several rectangular holes in the wall, which could have been where a support beam was attached to that wall – a support beam that held up that top level of the parking deck until the car hit it.

“The car hit the wall, which is incorporated into the support structure of the deck, and then that caused that one concrete slab to fall down,” Burnette said.

The same inspector who checked the deck as it was under construction came out Thursday afternoon. He told county officials he’s confident there are no other problems with the deck and the damage is isolated to that one slab. The debris will have to be cleared out, but the rest of the deck is safe and can be reopened.

A portion of Fairview Road was closed for a few hours so emergency crews could handle the scene, but the road was reopened well before the evening rush hour. The mall has remained open.

Did you witness the collapse or know someone who did? Contact Eyewitness News.