Injunction seeks to halt repair of railing that gave way where man died at Duquesne Incline

The parents of a man who fell to his death on West Carson Street early Sunday morning are seeking an emergency injunction to halt the replacement of the railing they said he fell through.

Brandon James Boburka, 22, of Coraopolis, died after falling in the 1200 block of West Carson Street to a gravel parking lot below the lower station of the Duquesne Incline.

Pittsburgh police said they are investigating the incident, which occurred about 4:20 a.m.

But according to the motion filed in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court on Friday by Boburka’s parents, Doreen McMurtrie and James Stephen Boburka, repairs have begun to the railing that gave way.

Contractors were attempting to repair the railing, “and while in the process of same, were spoliating and destroying the integrity of physical evidence and the scene of the incident itself,” the motion said.

In addition, it continued, those same contractors said “the entirety of the railing would be replaced ‘by next week.’”

The defendants, which include the Port Authority of Allegheny County, PennDOT, City of Pittsburgh and FC Station Square Landmark LLC, were notified by the parents’ counsel immediately of a claim and demanded preservation of the scene and all evidence, the motion said.

The injunction alleges that the defendants’ actions are destroying the “integrity of critical evidence to plaintiffs’ case.”

The motion demands that the scene and all physical evidence, including the railing, be preserved in their original condition.

Spokesmen for Port Authority and the City of Pittsburgh said they could not comment on pending litigation.

A spokesman for PennDOT did not immediately return a call for comment.

A message left with a spokeswoman for Station Square’s owners, Brookfield Properties, was not immediately returned.