Man pulled from rubble of vacant Baltimore home collapse has spinal injuries, mother says

BALTIMORE -- A man is at Shock Trauma Monday after being rescued from a vacant building collapse Sunday night in West Baltimore.

The victim's mother told WJZ from the hospital her son Sebron has spinal injuries and no feeling in his legs.

"He's real messed up. We can't move him or anything," Renee Plante said. "If it wasn't for (bystanders), I believe my son may have been dead this morning."

Related: Person hospitalized after trapped in vacant rowhome collapse in West Baltimore

Multiple people came to Sebron's aid after the home on Mount Street collapsed around 7:30 Sunday night.

"I'm pretty sure I blacked out for a couple of seconds, but when I came to, it was dusty. It was cloudy everywhere," Milton Barrett, Jr. said. "I was yelling for him and I couldn't find him at first."

Barrett said some dogs were focused on a spot in the rubble when he saw Sebron's hand.

"He wouldn't even let me go. He held onto me with everything he had," Barrett said. "So, I started pulling out the bricks, pulling out the bricks, then I saw his hand."

Barrett took a long pause before continuing with his account.

"All I thought about was getting that man out of there," Barrett said.

Sebron's mother Renee told WJZ doctors were preparing him for surgery as of noon Monday.

"It's like a third-world country here in Baltimore—it's sad," Plante said. "There's a whole lot of vacant houses throughout the City of Baltimore and something really does need to be done."

The home on Mount Street, just south of North Avenue, has been vacant since at least 2007, according to Housing records. 

Those records also show a side wall of the property collapsed and was repaired in 2016. The remainder of the property was demolished Monday afternoon.

Baltimore City has been making strides in vacant buildings, with a 17 percent decline in Vacant Building Notices since September 2018.

"I would never, ever want to go through this again," Barrett said.