2nd Acquittal in Fatal Deutsche Bank Blaze Near Ground Zero

A second construction company supervisor was acquitted of manslaughter and other charges in a fire that killed two firefighters at a condemned tower near Ground Zero.

The jury handed Jeffrey Melofchik his verdict Wednesday, a day after it had acquitted co-defendant Salvatore DePaola. A judge is still weighing charges against a third man and a company.

Firefighters Robert Beddia, 53, and Joseph Graffagnino, 33, were killed in the August 2007 fire at the former Deutsche Bank Building after they became trapped in thick black smoke and ran out of air in their oxygen tanks.

Prosecutors argued a break in the building's standpipe — which delivers water to firefighters — was a crucial factor in the deaths of the firefighters, who spent about an hour getting water to the flames.

The building was in the process of being taken down because it was damaged and contaminated on September 11, 2001, when the fatal blaze broke out.

With the Associated Press