New round of repairs ordered at Wicker Park building where façade fell on woman
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A judge this week ordered a new round of emergency repairs to a Wicker Park building where the stone façade fell and critically injured a young woman.
Back on April 6, chunks of concrete hit Annie Shea Wheeler, 22, in the head. Her attorney, Bruno Marasso, said she suffered a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain, which required life-saving surgery after part of the façade fell on her from a building at the northeast corner of Ashland and Milwaukee avenues.
Marasso said Wheeler suffered a traumatic brain injury, and required additional surgery for leaking spinal fluid after her initial surgery. He expects she will need further surgery as she continues a recovery he expects will take years.
Wheeler as of Monday still had one bloodshot eye, and multiple surgical staples in her skull following her surgery.
She said she now faces a "slow and tedious" recovery, and will face the prospect of long-term sensory issues and mental health challenges, including serious depression and developmental issues.
Additional scaffolding was installed shortly after the accident.
Marasso said, before the chunks of limestone fell on Wheeler on April 6, pieces of stone had been falling from the building for weeks, some of them as large as couch cushions.
Records show the city warned the building owner to make repairs more than two weeks before Wheeler was hurt.
The Department of Buildings confirmed on March 21, they contacted an agent of the owner of the vacant building after an anonymous 311 call. The person was told to:
• Immediately put up a heavy-duty canopy on the public way around the front of the buildings.
• Get a licensed structural engineer to assess the building façade.
• Get a licensed masonry contractor to make emergency repairs.
While the heavy-duty canopy was put in place, the owner did not make any repairs. The owner of the building did not respond to requests for comment regarding those required repairs.
