$1,058 in fines paid for deck collapse

AUSTIN (KXAN) - The host of a party during which a deck collapsed paid $1,058 in fines this week for violating city codes, but the contractor who did the work and the owner of the property have still not been cited.

Victor Wong mailed his checks to code compliance on Wednesday after entering a plea of no contest to two violation citations, according to his lawyer, Leon Barish.

Some 26 people were injured in the early morning hours on Sun., Aug. 1, during a birthday party hosted by Wong, a deejay and entrepreneur who lives there.

Wong was cited for improper electric wiring and building a deck without a permit. His brother, Calvin Wong, owns the property but has not been cited. Neither has Leslie Filip and enDesign , the contractor for the deck and stairs. The case is still under investigation by code compliance.

Earlier this week, Victor Wong issued a statement on his Facebook page apologizing for the accident and wishing a speedy recovery to all of those injured.

John Schwab, a structural engineer, took a look at pictures released by code compliance and says the failure occurred somewhere in the deck’s connection to the existing structure.

“It is the same technique as when you are hanging a picture on the wall and you look for the stud,” said Schwab. “Maybe they found the stud, but the load on the interface was just too heavy and was sheered off.

Similar deck collapses where there is a failure between the new and old construction is not unusual according to Schwab.

“It fell away from the building first hit, the ground, and then went towards the building. Unfortunately, that’s a common problem.”