San Diego

Daughter, Friends Mourns Window Washer Killed on Job

Friends and family are mourning the death of a window washer killed on the job Tuesday.

Investigators say the worker, identified as 61-year-old James Stinson from Jamul, was in his harness preparing to wash windows on the second floor of a downtown apartment complex when he repelled from the top and fell to the ground.

“I need some closure,” Stinson’s daughter Ali said. “I need to know what happened. It’s not going to change anything, I know it’s not going to bring him back, but I just know he was too experienced to let a rookie mistake happen."

Ali and countless friends and coworkers were honoring his memory at the site of the accident Wednesday.

“I don't know what to do without him,” Stinson’s daughter Ali said. “It just shows we have no control and we can't predict anything. I just feel so incredibly lucky to have been his daughter.”

Flipping through memories of her fearless and kind father, Ali said he loved dogs almost as much as he loved his grandchildren.

“He told me recently ‘I'm so proud of the woman you’ve become,’ and me and my kids were just his life,” she said.

Ali says her father has been washing windows for 44 years and was always called in to do the tricky jobs.

Ray Weber played soccer with Stinson for 25 years on a team called the San Diego Strikers. He left behind a message that read, “God bless you Jim, we'll never forget you.”

“I've adored Jim like a brother and I do have a tribute to leave behind. A candle,” Weber said. “He was a great soccer player but more than that he was just a great man and a great father with two grandchildren."

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