Alameda County Dist. Atty. Nancy O'Malley on Thursday promised a "thorough and exhaustive investigation" of the June 16 collapse of a Berkeley balcony to determine whether criminal charges or a civil consumer protection action are warranted.
Flanked by her chief assistant, O'Malley said at a news conference that her office had been monitoring the deadly collapse and moved to take on the lead role in a criminal investigation after Berkeley city officials announced Tuesday that they were not pursuing one.
The tragedy that left six Irish students dead — one of them a dual citizen from the Bay Area — and injured seven "has devastated communities throughout the Bay Area and Ireland," she said.