Update: Three Injured When Rosemount Deck Collapses

Three people were injured Sunday afternoon in Rosemount when the deck on a home broke off and collapsed on the concrete patio below.

Jill Jauman, who owns the home on the 15500 block of Claret Avenue, and her brother and sister-in-law were injured when the second-story deck collapsed.

Jauman and her brother suffered only minor injuries, but her sister-in-law has an apparent broken ankle and may need surgery, Jauman said Monday.

“We were just sitting there in the sun, and [the deck] broke away from the house and fell,” she said.

Jauman and her brother were treated at Regions Hospital and released Sunday evening.

Jill Lindquist, Rosemount’s community development director, said Monday that the city has no record of a building permit being issued for the deck or any inspections being performed on the finished project. The home was constructed in 1988 without a deck, she said.

“Obviously, this happens,” she said. “If we see somebody building without a permit, we’ll tag the property and ask them to follow the procedures.”

Jauman wouldn’t disclose the names of her brother and sister-in-law, but acknowledged that “we had a lot of things out there” on the deck when it broke away.

Rosemount Police Lt. Jewel Ericson said Monday that the incident was relatively minor.

“I think it’s being made a bigger issue than what happened,” he said.

Ericson said that according to police records, two of the victims were on the deck when the third one stepped out of the house onto it, which is when the deck broke away and fell.

“It appeared that whoever put the deck on used nails to connect it to the house,” Ericson said. “The building code now says you have to use bolts. That would have prevented the accident.”

Lindquist said Jauman likely won’t be cited for the improperly constructed deck. However, she said, “if they reconstruct it, they’ll need to get a permit.”