Ben Crump representing Illinois worker killed in Amazon warehouse destroyed by tornado
“The family members we represent are deeply distraught and want answers to their questions," Crump said Tuesday morning.
Family members of one of the Edwardsville, Illinois Amazon facility workers who was killed when a tornado destroyed one of the company’s delivery stations have hired prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump to help find out exactly what happened.
DeAndre S. Morrow, 28, was one of the six Amazon employees who perished when a storm leveled the building, according to NBC News. Crump’s office confirmed on Tuesday that Morrow’s family has hired him. The attorney said Morrow’s family members are “deeply distraught and want answers.”
“We are seeking to determine if Amazon did everything in its power to warn employees of the incoming danger from the tornado and provide a designated safe area for employees to shelter,” Crump told theGrio in an email on Tuesday.
An Amazon spokesperson told theGrio on Tuesday that its Edwardsville site received tornado warnings between 8:06 p.m. and 8:16 p.m. on Friday; site leaders directed people to a designated shelter-in-place area, where a majority of the company’s personnel waited for the storm to pass.
The tornado reportedly tore the roof off the Amazon building and caused 11-inch thick concrete walls, longer than football fields, to collapse on the victims, according to Reuters. At least 45 Amazon employees escaped from the rubble after the building was destroyed, Reuters reported.
Amazon said it appears the tornado formed in the Edwardsville site’s parking lot before barreling through the building. Most of the individuals who died were in a small group that took shelter in a part of the building that was directly impacted by the tornado, according to Amazon.
“We’re deeply saddened by the news that members of our Amazon family passed away as a result of the storm in Edwardsville, IL,” Amazon told theGrio via email. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their loved ones, and everyone impacted by the tornado.”
A woman named Yasmine Nichole, who identified herself as one of Morrow’s high school ex-girlfriends on Facebook, described him as “a very loyal friend” in a status update on Saturday.
“Whenever I was dealing with life situations, he was my person I could vent to without being judged or talked about behind my back,” Nichole said of Morrow on Facebook Saturday afternoon. “God sent him down here to bring happiness and peace to everyone’s life.”
Morrow was one of an estimated total of 190 employees who worked at the 1.1 million sq. ft. facility in Edwardsville before the storm hit it Friday night. At least 88 people have died as a result of the series of tornadoes that ripped through Kentucky, Missouri and Illinois in the midwest and Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas in the nation’s southeastern region, according to the New York Times.
An Amazon spokesperson told theGrio people at all levels of the company have been working non-stop to support recovery efforts nationwide. The company said it is reaching out to the Edwardsville victims’ families to see how Amazon can support them as well.
Amazon said it has donated $1 million to the Edwardsville Community Foundation, a charitable trust that distributes donations to local residents. The company is also giving relief supplies and services, including transportation, food, and clean water, to its employees and partners.
“We’re continuing to provide support to our employees and partners in the area,” the company added.
Crump pointed out this isn’t the first time Amazon workers have died in a tornado. Andrew Lindsay and Israel Espana Argote, third-party contractors according to an Amazon spokesperson, lost their lives three years ago after a tornado hit an Amazon warehouse in Baltimore, WJZ reported.
“Were lessons learned from that tragedy turned into new policies and were they followed here?” Crump said. “We are asking Amazon employees who worked at the fulfillment center to assist us with our investigation and help us understand what warnings were given and what procedures followed.”
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