Neighbors Say Rotting Staircase Killed SF Woman
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) -- Residents of a San Francisco apartment complex claim their landlord didn't properly maintain a staircase, which led to a neighbor's fatal fall.
62-year-old Rory Moore was coming down the stairs at her apartment building at 1340 Taylor Street on Sunday when she fell through the stairwell, according to neighbor Yo Yoshida.
"She fractured four ribs, punctured a lung, lacerated her liver, lacerated her kidney and was bleeding out internally," Yoshida told CBS 5.
According to neighbors, Moore tended bar at nearby Cresta's on Polk Street for two decades and was the toast of her apartment building.
"She was full of life," recalled neighbor Sid Desai. "Every time I'd see her, she's always asking what I'm up to, how's it going, how I'm enjoying the city."
Renters said complaints to the landlord fell on deaf ears. CBS 5 checked with the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection and found complaints about the staircase dating back to 1995.
"I got scratched and bruised but I fell through to the ground from the stair," said Yoshida, who has also fallen through the stairwell. "The cleaning lady was (also) one that fell through and she got stuck, literally feet dangling between two floors."
CBS 5 found all four staircases to the four-story building were rotting. A private investigator was on scene but did not want to talk.
"Had I known it was going to be these types of conditions I would have reconsidered moving in here," Desai said.
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