FDNY: Verrazano Bridge worker breaks legs in 25-foot fall
A worker on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge broke both legs but narrowly missed being killed Monday after he fell from the upper level onto conduits that kept him from fatally striking the lower roadway, officials said.
FDNY officials were unclear on all details of the accident just after noon near the Brooklyn tower of the more than 4,200-foot span, which connects Brooklyn and Staten Island.
The man, who was not identified, fell about 25 feet from the upper roadway onto a set of electrical conduits, fracturing his lower legs, said Lt. Joe Light of FDNY Unit Rescue 5.
The worker was in great pain by the time FDNY and police personnel arrived to extricate him. However, “If they [the conduits] were not there, he would have hit the roadway and died,” Light said.
Fire officials said the man wasn’t wearing a safety harness at the time of the fall, but had on a safety helmet.
Once the worker was rescued, he was turned over to an EMS unit, which took him to NYU Lutheran Medical Center in Brooklyn, where he was listed in serious condition Monday evening, said an FDNY spokesman.
Light said the injured man appeared to be in shock when rescuers got to him and was semiconscious by the time he was placed in the ambulance.
Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.
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