Fiance of Woman Killed when Dallas Crane Fell Recalls Chaos

DALLAS (AP) — As Kiersten Smith watched an episode of “Grey’s Anatomy,” her fiance prepared a lazy Sunday lunch of grilled cheese and tomato soup. Just feet away, Eric Ridenhour said they were chatting when a crane crashed into their downtown Dallas apartment complex.

“I had zero vision but I could feel the air in front of me when I was yelling her name and it was just texture. I could feel texture. It was like you could grab the air,” said Ridenhour, 34.

Their living room, where Smith had been sitting on the couch, was gone. And from their second-floor apartment in the five-story building, Ridenhour looked up to see daylight.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Ridenhour offered details from inside the building where a construction crane, buffeted in a June 9 storm, came crashing down, killing his 29-year-old fiancee and injuring several others. As he and Smith’s family prepare for her Saturday funeral, officials have released little information on why this crane fell in a skyline that’s dotted with them.

Ridenhour, who had cuts and bruises, said that after the crash he pulled his downstairs neighbor up to his apartment and they waited on his balcony with one of his dogs until firefighters came. “I was yelling at them: ‘My fiancee’s down there. My fiancee’s in there, my fiancee is in there,’” he said.