Make New York Post a Preferred Source A construction worker who was injured in the fatal Brooklyn building collapse alleges corners were cut at the adjacent job site that’s being probed as a potential cause of the wreck, The Post has learned.
The laborer, who requested anonymity out of fear for his job and safety, retained New York City construction accident lawyer Christopher Gorayeb following Wednesday’s collapse that injured the man’s knee, shoulder and back when a wall fell on him.
“It isn’t one act that causes a disaster. It’s a series of missteps and negligence,” Gorayeb told The Post.
“And already, in this particular instance, we see negligent actions which accumulated and ultimately resulted in this accident and the deaths and injuries that occurred.”
Gorayeb’s new client was employed by subcontractor Elite Concrete to lay the foundation for the planned mixed-used project at 2625 Bedford Ave. — next door to the three-story apartment building that suddenly collapsed Wednesday, killing eight people including two children and three construction workers.
Excavation work was taking place at the construction site when the facade of 1321 Flatbush Ave. crumbled into the adjacent lot, trapping multiple victims under rubble and leaving nearly 20 people injured.
The construction worker alleged shoddy measures were taken by the developers, with a 5-foot dirt pile topped with concrete used to prevent a potential collapse of the neighboring three-story apartment building — in lieu of proper wall shoring, Gorayeb said.
Photos provided by Gorayeb, and excavation plans approved by the city and reviewed by The Post, showed shoring around most of the building, except for a portion of the construction zone that bumped up against 1321 Flatbush.
The day of the incident, the laborer said he was one of 18 construction workers hired by Elite on site, but no one was present from the general contractor’s company. The workers were not unionized, Gorayeb said.
“That’s like Third World stuff, using dirt to bank against a building and hold it up,” said Gorayeb, who’s been working as a personal injury lawyer for 40 years.
The worker claimed that the reason that portion of the site didn’t use proper shoring was because the owner of 1321 Flatbush didn’t want it, Gorayeb said.
“The owner of the building did not want them to install shoring, similar to what was against the yard in the back of the building, because that would have created holes and potential for leaks into his building,” Gorayeb said.
“There was prior knowledge of at least one crack in the building wall. And measures were taken to reinforce the cracked area,” he added, referring to a fissure flagged on the north facade of 1321 Flatbush in a city Department of Buildings report in March.
The lawyer said his client has been left unable to work — either in construction or at his second job as a kitchen employee — due to his injuries.
He will be going after the owners of 2625 Bedford, the general contractor, the engineers and potentially the owners of 1321 Flatbush. Gorayeb said he was still considering whether there were grounds to also sue the city.
“This was an entirely preventable accident, as most are,” Gorayeb alleged. “They didn’t take reasonable steps that would have supported the building, and instead they used almost ridiculous procedures, inadequate procedures, that no competent engineer or contractor would have implemented to support an unsupported wall of an adjacent residential building.”
Elite Concrete declined to comment and the owner of 2625 Bedford couldn’t be reached. A working number could not be found for the landlord of 1321 Flatbush.
A DOB spokesperson said the excavation plans designed by engineers were approved after “they were found to comply with the city’s requirements,” but added an investigation was ongoing in light of the devastating collapse.
“As part of our larger investigation, we will also review whether work was being done in compliance with the approved plans,” the DOB statement said.
The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office is also investigating, and Gorayeb said since the case has potential criminality involved, it could end up extending the civil fight for damages for up to a decade.
“The fact that two children died underscores that this accident not only could have been prevented, it should have been prevented,” he said.
Gorayeb said that his client didn’t raise the issues with his higher ups before the collapse because he was afraid of losing his job, but added that he would have spoken up had he known it could be life-threatening.
“For many laborers they are there just to take instruction or do work. They are not there to make suggestions, to point out that something should be done differently,” he said. “Everybody wants to keep their job. They don’t want to cause trouble.”
The family of one of the people who died in the collapse has also lawyered up, according to Jacob Oresky of Oresky & Associates, PLLC.
“We are investigating the circumstances which caused the collapse to determine what went wrong and the failure to use proper and safe construction practices which would have avoided this terrible tragedy,” Oresky said. “Our goal is to seek answers, accountability, and justice for our client’s family and those harmed in this tragic accident.”
— Additional reporting by Peter Senzamici
