New York City ? A city inspector has been charged with lying about checking on a construction crane that collapsed 11 days later, killing seven people in Manhattan.

Edward Marquette, 46, was arraigned and released without bail Thursday on charges of falsifying business records and offering a false instrument for filing.

Marquette, who earns $52,283 a year as an inspector in the department’s division of cranes and derricks, was arrested Wednesday night, said Barbara Thompson, spokeswoman for the Manhattan district attorney.

A complaint about the crane was logged March 4 to a city hot line, officials said, and Marquette said he inspected it. It was later determined he had not.