Man says he jumped to survive garage collapse

DORAL, Fla. (WSVN) -- A man who barely escaped the collapse of a garage on the Miami-Dade College's West Campus is sharing his tale of survival.

Twenty-seven-year-old Anthony Williams said he is lucky to be alive. He was hired as a day laborer to work on the construction of the parking garage, and it was his first day on the job Wednesday when the building started to crumble around him.

Williams was working on the second floor when the five-story building collapsed. Three people were killed and a fourth remains missing.

He remembers having to make a desperate decision. "When I heard the crash, there was only one way to go down, so I jumped off the second floor," he said.

The Ajax Building Corporation announced Wednesday that an employee bumped a column with a crane several days prior to the collapse, but they do not believe that caused the deck to fall.

Williams said the damage was evident. "We noticed there was like a little crack on top of the building," he said.

He spoke from the Law Offices of Robert Rubenstein, who is representing him. "A lot of people die from this," Rubenstein said. "It's a terrible tragedy. It shouldn't have happened."

The cause of the collapse remains under investigation. Williams and his attorneys are considering filing lawsuits.

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