'He never will come back home'

Fidel Danilo Sanchez-Flores was unusually quiet Tuesday night, telling his wife he loved her and would continue to love her after death.

"I said, 'Why do you say that?'" Vielka Molinar recalled Thursday. "He said, 'I don't know.'"

Molinar felt uneasy on her way to work as a nurse Wednesday morning. The worry grew when her husband didn't answer his phone that afternoon.

It wasn't until about 7 p.m. that she heard from authorities: Her husband was clearing snow off the glass roof of the IDS Tower's Crystal Court about 2 p.m. when he broke through a panel, fell approximately four stories into the building and died.

"He left," a weary Molinar said Thursday. "And he didn't come back home, and he never will come back home."

The Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the fall. It was unclear Thursday what caused the accident in downtown Minneapolis' popular shopping and office tower. Sanchez-Flores, 52, of West St. Paul was working for sub-contractor Columbia Building Services. No one else was injured.

Sanchez-Flores was wearing a harness, said Jim Durda, vice president and general manager of Inland American Office Management LLC, which manages the IDS Center. Workers on the roof are required to secure themselves and their tools to hooks on the structure via a "lifeline," Durda said. It's unclear if that safety precaution was taken.

Sanchez-Flores was familiar with his job's risks and never expressed concerns about safety, his widow said.

"He was a very happy person," Molinar said, recalling how he liked to barbecue and play basketball with their 16-year-old daughter.

Sanchez-Flores and Molinar grew up together in Panama. His wife said he moved to the United States in 1976 and served in the Marine Corps for about 12 years. He lived in New York for about 15 years and Puerto Rico for a year, doing construction work in both places. He joined his family in Minnesota last year.

Molinar said her husband started working for Columbia Building Services this spring. The company's website said it provides building maintenance in the Twin Cities, specializing in window cleaning and snow removal. Company representatives did not return messages left Thursday.

Durda said Columbia has been cleaning the IDS Center for more than 35 years without incident.

However, in 1999 a 6,000-pound motorized window-washer lift operated by the company slid off a downtown Minneapolis sidewalk and crashed onto two taxi cabs. The worker on board leapt off the machine and broke a wrist and hurt his neck. No one else was hurt.

In 2004, the company was cited for a "non-serious" violation for failing to provide window washers with a device that measures wind velocities, state records show. Workers, stranded on a 40-story building in strong winds, were rescued.

James Honerman, spokesman for Minnesota OSHA, said it could take "quite some time" before OSHA issues an official report on Sanchez-Flores' death. His widow said she isn't laying blame at this point. Her grief is too overwhelming.

"I see him walking around with a big smile, just joking," she said. "He enjoyed life."

He is also survived by a second daughter and two grandchildren.

Chao Xiong • 612-673-4391