One dead in collapse of parking deck

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - A portion of parking deck at a busy shopping mall collapsed Thursday, and a motorist who may have triggered the accident by crashing into the structure died, police said.

The woman's car crashed into the edge of the top level of the parking deck at SouthPark Mall, Charlotte- Mecklenburg Police spokeswoman Julie Hill said. A small portion of the threetier deck then collapsed, and the driver's car fell through the opening, Hill said.

The woman was pronounced dead at the scene, said Mecklenburg EMS Agency spokesman Eric Morrison. She was identified by a police report as 64-yearold Shirley Sutton Hawkins, with no address listed, but the report didn't say how she died.

Hawkins' car was seen wedged on a concrete median before it broke free and rapidly accelerated to the edge of the parking deck, according to the report.

Two cars under the collapsed concrete were destroyed, Charlotte Fire Department Capt. Rob Brisley said, but authorities said there were no other injuries.

''I think it's miraculous, quite honest, given what happened, that there are no other confirmed injuries,'' Hill said.

Brisley said investigators are now working to identify the cause of the collapse and determine whether the deck, located between Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus, is stable.

Lorraine Ayala, 63, of Monroe, said she left the mall to find the parking deck collapsed just above her ground-level parking space.

''It makes you question the structure of these buildings,'' Ayala said.

Kathryn Cole, 20, was among several shoppers who had parked in the deck and was frustrated that authorities didn't immediately let people back into the structure to retrieve their cars. ''I'm concerned how I'm going to get home,'' said Cole, a student at Davidson College, about 30 miles from the mall.

''Being without your vehicle is unfortunate, but we want you to get it safely,'' Brisley said.

Brisley said the shoppers whose cars were caught in the parking deck while authorities worked later were allowed to leave.

Meanwhile, a parking garage under construction in Jacksonville, Fla., partially collapsed Thursday, injuring about two dozen people, officials said.