Engineer in Cowboys Accident Paying $12,000 Fine

High winds collapsed the indoor practice facility, injuring 12 in May 2009

The engineer who signed off on plans for the Dallas Cowboys practice facility that collapsed and seriously injured two team employees three years ago is paying a $12,000 fine to settle faulty design charges from the Texas Board of Professional Engineers.

Enrique Tabak and the board agreed on the penalty last August, and the Canadian engineer has been making quarterly payments that are due to end in June, records show.

At the time of the collapse, 27 players were going through workouts as another 40 or so people, including coaches, other team personnel, media and officials, worked inside the facility.

Cowboys special teams coach Joe DeCamillis suffered a broken vertebrae and scout Rich Behm was paralyzed from the waist down when the tent-like structure fell during a wind storm on May 2, 2009.

The board's executive director says the fine is "significant." An attorney for DeCamillis and Behm says it's woefully inadequate in light of what occurred.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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