via Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer on Twitter
Feb. 21, 2019 By Nathaly Pesantez
A piece of wood measuring several feet long fell from the 7 train tracks above Roosevelt Avenue and pierced through a car windshield below near 65th Street earlier today, according to authorities.
A driver was headed eastbound on the avenue in his Chevrolet Tahoe just before 12:30 p.m. when a long beam of wood came crashing down from above and broke straight through the front passenger side of the SUV, an NYPD spokesperson said.
The driver, whose age was not disclosed, was the only person in the car.
Emergency services responded to the scene shortly after, though the driver refused medical attention, police said. It is unclear what the extent of his injuries, if any, were.
Photos taken at the scene of the incident by witnesses were tweeted out by Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer at around 3:20 p.m., who initially said the piece of wood was “a track from the 7 train.”
“Thankfully the driver was not injured, but someone could have been killed!” he wrote. “There must be an immediate investigation into how something this dangerous could happen. MTA must answer for our crumbling subway infrastructure before a tragedy occurs.”
In a statement, MTA spokesperson Shams Tarek said: “We take this incident extremely seriously, are conducting a full investigation into what happened, have personnel ensuring the rest of the area is safe, and are relieved that no one was injured.”
The MTA said preliminary observations indicate that the wood that fell is not part of the track, but from a worker or supply platform that was installed beneath the tracks years ago. No construction projects, however, are taking place at the location at the moment.
That platform has now been dismantled and removed, and the rest of the 7 line structure is now being checked for similar platforms. Every other elevated structure in the system will also be checked.
Van Bramer, who also noted shortly after his initial tweets that the fallen object is “not track,” said the incident is “horrifying” nonetheless.
“Regardless, someone could have died,” he said.
Several videos taken at the scene by witnesses were also posted to a local Facebook group. In them, passerby can be heard telling the unseen driver to call 9-1-1, with one witness claiming he saw the beam when it came tumbling down.
The falling wooden beam from the 7 line also follows a January incident involving decorative tiles from the concrete viaduct in Sunnyside falling and piercing the windshield of a parked car below. The MTA has since started to remove loose tiles from the viaduct “out of an abundance of caution.”
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23 Comments
A.Bundy— First smart comment you ever made
This is Amazons fault. If we had the $27 billion in taxes that they were going to give us, we could have fixed our subways. “Very easy to blame somebody to tie into your own political agenda”
The scary thing is #7 line is probably the best of them all and things like this happen. Imagine if they never maintained the line?
Theres alot of daylabor guys there on that corner. Maybe they were trying to use the wood to learn how jump themselves over the 7 train. Its about 30 feet high, the south boarder wall will be 30 ft high. They were just practicing when little julio slipped and the wood went flying.
Have you noticed how the Trumpeters that think they understand immigration policy can’t even spell “border” correctly?
Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer: “There must be an immediate investigation into how something this dangerous could happen.”
GRAVITY.
Please let me know where I can pick up my fat consultation fee from the city.
Sweet. Another 10 years of weekend construction coming our way. I was starting to get worried.
I’m surprised–I thought this would have been a piece of negligence from the ever-present repairs that the 7 has been undergoing, but the article seems to indicate it’s from an older repair?
The subway is LITERALLY falling apart.
of course it is. it hasnt been maintained for 100 years. the same signals have been used for half a century. only tracks have been replaced. the stations are disgusting. what did you expect from 100 years of negligence? and who in their right mind puts a subway system above ground knowing that weather will significantly deteriorate the structural integrity over time? all the mta does is paint over the issues.
Cool. Local law 11 is extorting every building in sunnyside with ticky tack violations that arent real safety hazards, causing everyone to put up those ugly sheds to protect us from nonexistent falling object threats. Meanwhile, bring a hard hat when you near the 7 train, its literally raining ceramic tiles and 2x4s. No need for protection there though, because the government cant extort itself and safety isnt actually a concern.
Exactamundo….one of the biggest rackets out there, Local Law 11. Next one up for the residential buildings… elevator door lock monitoring system! Another racket that in the end the middle and lower class have to pay for.
Somehow, some way, this will be Trumps fault.
Wow, Trump Derangement Syndrome in full effect again. This isn’t related to sexual assault or the federal crimes commited by most of Trump’s cabinet, not sure what it has to do with him,
You and your 13+ identities need medical help. And psychological help. Get help. It’ll be a brighter day tommorrow.
rails are metal and ties are not that shape and size, I think the Chicago police could solve this one.
It’s alaays something on the 7 train. People being shot, people being dragged by train and thrown into the tunnel, pieces of the infrastructure falling off the tressle.
yeah, the mta just screams quality.
Jimmy is trying to be a hero now after sabotaging the Amazon deal and depriving our community of tens of thousands of jobs. I hope you and your husband enjoy retirement because this is your last elected position.
FACTS!
Years ago, after witnessing a man stand between cars and urinate from the elevated 7 line, I made a mental note to avoid driving Roosevelt Avenue under the El whenever possible. Now this just made it mandatory.
And the 7 train was going to be capable to transport 25k more people…
great victory for Ocasia, she just saved 25k new yorkers!