1 worker dead, 1 badly hurt in fall from scaffolding at University of Chicago Medical Center (2024)

A 27-year-old worker has died and another was listed in critical condition after they plunged from scaffolding at a South Side hospital construction site on a blustery Thursday in Hyde Park.

David O’Donnell was killed in the incident, which happened about 11:45 a.m. in the 5600 block of South Drexel Avenue at the University of Chicago Medical Center, according to police and Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford.

O’Donnell, of Oak Forest, was dead on the scene while the other man was listed in critical condition, said police and Langford, who was on the scene where the scaffolding was still “swinging around in the wind.”

1 worker dead, 1 badly hurt in fall from scaffolding at University of Chicago Medical Center (1)

Officials gather outside the University of Chicago Medicine’s emergency department in Hyde Park, after two construction workers fell from a hospital construction site Thursday in the 5700 block of South Drexel Avenue, according to the Chicago Fire Department. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

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1 worker dead, 1 badly hurt in fall from scaffolding at University of Chicago Medical Center (2)

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1 worker dead, 1 badly hurt in fall from scaffolding at University of Chicago Medical Center (3)

Workers in construction hats gather Thursday outside the University of Chicago Medicine’s emergency department in Hyde Park, after two construction workers fell from a hospital construction site in the 5700 block of South Drexel Avenue, according to the Chicago Fire Department. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

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1 worker dead, 1 badly hurt in fall from scaffolding at University of Chicago Medical Center (4)

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1 worker dead, 1 badly hurt in fall from scaffolding at University of Chicago Medical Center (5)

Workers in construction hats gather outside the University of Chicago Medicine’s emergency department in Hyde Park on Thursday, after two construction workers fell from a hospital construction site in the 5700 block of South Drexel Avenue, according to the Chicago Fire Department. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

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1 worker dead, 1 badly hurt in fall from scaffolding at University of Chicago Medical Center (6)

A building that is under construction in the 5700 block of South Drexel Avenue in front of the University of Chicago Medicine’s emergency department is seen Thursday after two construction workers fell from the construction site, according to the Chicago Fire Department. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

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1 worker dead, 1 badly hurt in fall from scaffolding at University of Chicago Medical Center (7)

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1 worker dead, 1 badly hurt in fall from scaffolding at University of Chicago Medical Center (8)

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1 worker dead, 1 badly hurt in fall from scaffolding at University of Chicago Medical Center (9)

A medical worker crosses the street outside the University of Chicago Medicine’s emergency department in Hyde Park on Thursday, after two construction workers reportedly fell from a hospital construction site in the 5700 block of South Drexel Avenue, according to the Chicago Fire Department. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

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1 worker dead, 1 badly hurt in fall from scaffolding at University of Chicago Medical Center (10)

Workers in construction hats gather outside the University of Chicago Medicine’s emergency department in Hyde Park on Thursday after two construction workers fell from a hospital construction site in the 5700 block of South Drexel Avenue, according to the Chicago Fire Department. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

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1 worker dead, 1 badly hurt in fall from scaffolding at University of Chicago Medical Center (11)

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The National Weather Service reported wind gusts of 35 to 40 mph throughout the day across the Chicago region.

Both workers were taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, across the street from where the scaffolding fell. Police were investigating the case as an accident.

Several police and fire vehicles remained on scene hours after the accident, and two hospital employees looked on through a first-floor window as authorities continued to investigate.

Many construction staffers appeared visibly shaken and one shared an extended hug with a man in a black shirt.

Ricardo Ortega, an employee at the University of Chicago Medical Center, was walking past the scene.

“I’ve seen a lot in my lifetime,” Ortega, 22, said. “It’s sad, people die every day.”

1 worker dead, 1 badly hurt in fall from scaffolding at University of Chicago Medical Center (2024)

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