“The city has formally asked the site owner to conduct a structural engineering analysis to assess current status of the building as well as the circumstances that may have led to the partial collapse at the site,” a city spokesperson said.

The third-floor ramp collapsed on to the second floor on then pancaked on to the first floor on the north side of the garage at Outer Drive and Garrison Place. It occurred at about 8:45 p.m. Feb. 6, trapping a 19-year-old man inside his Ford Escape vehicle. The man was rescued uninjured about two hours later.

“It was a complete pancake collapse with two roughly 40,000 sq fit sections, weighing 40,000 lb [around the man’s vehicle],” said Kelly Meister, assistant fire chief for the Dearborn Fire Dept.

She said the situation would have been worse if the debris had fallen 6 in. in either direction closer to the man who had slipped beneath his steering wheel.  

She said the rescue team used Paratech Struts to support the concrete while the rescue, in 3°F weather, took place.

“We had to support the cross beam on the second floor because we were working directly under it,” she said. “We saw the beam separating from the post.”

A Paratech strut is a telescoping, high-strength metal support post used to stabilize damaged or compromised structures during rescue operations.

Following the collapse, the property owner was instructed by the city to immediately stabilize the deck to prevent further damage,” a city spokesperson said. “If stabilization is successful and the structure is deemed safe, the owner is responsible for coordinating the safe removal of vehicles.”

In July 2025, the building owner was issued a stop work order and ticketed for unpermitted work in the garage. Plans submitted in late October to the city were denied because the owner failed to provide necessary details on the work's scope and a structural analysis, the city said.

Because the plans were insufficient, the city does not know what type of work was planned. It also does not do off-schedule structural engineering inspections of such structures unless there is some inciting event, but the building dept. staff had noticed the unpermitted work taking place last summer.

The office building attached to parking garage experienced a fire in 2021 and has been vacant and uninhabited since then, eliminating the need for an interval inspection, the city said.

According to a local news report, the structure is owned by GJ Ramz Acquisition LLC. Mo Beydoun, an attorney representing the owner, did not reply to a request from ENR for comment.

A 19-year-old man was rescued from a partially collapsed garage in Dearborn, Mich. The cause of the collapse has not yet been determined.
Video courtesy of the Dearborn Fire Dept.

The parking garage is on the west side of Dearborn is in a commercial area with office buildings dating to the 1980s. 

Meister said “it’s nothing short of miracle” that the man involved in the collapse had not been injured.

She said rescuers were able to hear him calling for help and followed the sound of his voice.