Two defendants and two corporations have been charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide after a 200-foot crane collapsed and killed two workers in Manhattan in 2008.

James Lomma and Tibor Varganyi pleaded not guilty to the charges at their arraignment today.

Authorities released James Lomma after giving him one week to come up with $100,000 bail. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance says Lomma and two of his companies were to blame for a flawed weld in the crane's turntable that caused the accident.

"The defendants did not employ appropriate engineering supervisors to oversee the repairs, failed to hire a certified welding company to perform the work, and provided the company that manufactured the replacement part with grossly inadequate welding specifications," Vance says.

Department of Investigation Commissioner, Rose Gill Hearn, says the fatal accident on Manhattan's Upper East Side could have been avoided. "The investigation tragically has shown the horrific event and loss of life was not random or unavoidable, but the result of criminal recklessness and negligence according to the indictment," she says.

An attorney for Lomma's companies says the 2008 accident was a tragedy, not a crime.