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

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.”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.”