Falling Glass Leaves On-Lookers Terrified, Three Injured In The Flatiron
NEW YORK(CBSNewYork) -- There was danger from the sky on Thursday night. Falling glass from a high-rise building left on-lookers terrified and three people hurt.
"We could be dead," Derrick Bell told CBS2's Scott Rapoport.
Bell, 25, said he's still shocked from the shower of glass that rained down on him from 17 floors above at a building on Fifth Ave and 28th Street.
The scars on his shoulder are still as raw as the memory.
"Just huge pieces started to hit us," he said.
Around 6:45 Thursday night, a 2' by 3' foot window from up high came crashing down to the street, spewing glass everywhere, authorities said.
On Friday, some of the remains were still evident.
"It was just crash, boom glass, shower, and then you know I hit the ground," Mike McClintock said.
He said one woman had her leg cut and lost a lot of blood.
The incident left Bell's friend and co-worker Erica McKee with a harrowing tale.
The 23-year-old suffered a split ear, a cut on her scalp, and abrasions on her chin.
She described the fear she felt while speaking to CBS2 on the phone from home.
"My face was just like covered in my blood, so you can't really see where it's coming from or how bad it really is," she said.
Officially, authorities said what caused all of this is still not clear. CBS2 has been told that the entire 17th floor of the building has been undergoing renovation.
Police sources told CBS2 that workers in the building believe vibrations from some of the equipment they used on the floor may have caused the window to become unhinged.
"It's scary. It's a scary thought, that you can have glass at any point in time come from that high," Bell said.
The owner of the building is listed as the Moinian Group. The city building department has issued a violation against the building owner for failure to maintain the building.