For 3rd Time, Piece Of Debris Plunges From Elevated 7 Train Tracks Onto Car Below In Queens
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- In what's become an alarmingly commonplace occurrence of late, a small piece of rusty metal plunged from the elevated 7 train track and crashed into a car in Queens on Friday.
Officials say the hunk of metal dropped onto the trunk of a car on Queens Boulevard and Skillman Avenue in Sunnyside, causing a dent.
The man whose car it hit was surprised to see how much damage the metal inflicted. The incident comes after two separate incidents in the past month where debris fell from the 7 train tracks in Woodside.
No one was hurt, but cars were damaged every time debris fell.
"This is outrageous! More rusty metal debris falling from the 7 train, this time in LIC. Look at that dent— a person would have died!" Tweeted Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer. "I sent a letter to [the MTA] last week demanding an expeditious inspection of the 7 train structure. What is the hold up?!"
Last week, a piece of metal came down and pierced a van's windshield.
Witness Hamza Saeed described the terrifying moments after the debris came loose and smashed into the vehicle below.
They were quite shook. They were like, 'How does something like that fall?'," he said.
The incident happened last Thursday underneath the Woodside 7 train platform on Roosevelt and 61st Street. Saeed said he heard the sound and watched the victims pull up to his store a few dozen feet away.
"She was like, 'Something fell and now were scared,' and, 'Thank God nothing happened to us.'" he said.
Some Woodside residents and subway riders said the area is so decrepit, they'll avoid walking underneath.
"It's scary. It's dangerous. Anything can happen," Sayed Elmarakpi said.
Last month, a big wooden beam came loose along the same subway line and crushed a windshield, narrowly missing someone inside.
The MTA blamed the March 7th metal collapse on a truck that may have hit a beam.
Van Bramer says the MTA just isn't doing enough.
"This is an epic situation, this is a public health crisis," he said. "You have to conclude that the MTA is incapable of making the area underneath the 7 train safe."
"We take this matter extremely seriously and have personnel on location investigating and seeking to confirm the origin of this piece of metal," the MTA said regarding the latest incident.
The agency claims they "thoroughly inspected" the area this week and "found no loose debris on the tracks or below."
Van Bramer says he's asked the MTA for an immediate short-term solution like netting or scaffolding, but so far there's no sign of that happening. Meantime, a group of business owners and residents have even filed a lawsuit against the MTA, forcing it to paint and fix the peeling, crumbling mess before it's too late.