Ceiling Collapses On Top Of Woman As She Showers
NORTH MIAMI- A North Miami family is trying to plot out its next move after part of the ceiling collapsed inside the bathroom where one woman was showering Friday morning.
It's believed a leak is to blame for the collapse which left Delande Attelus Pierre injured.
Pierre, a mother of three, said she was in the bathroom at about 7:45 am when the part of the ceiling came crashing down on her head.
"I fell down in the tub and I didn't know anything," Pierre said. "My children had to call my husband."
Her husband, Ralph Pierre, rushed in.
"I was sleeping," Mr. Pierre said. "They called me 'Dad, dad, dad! Mommy hurt in the bathroom!'"
His wife had to be taken from the home on Northeast 12 Avenue in North Miami to the hospital, where she was treated for some head and back pain.
"I've been living for three years," Mr. Pierre said. "I got a lot of problems in this apartment. When I called the owner, he said I was supposed to get out and they don't want to fix it."
Pierre said he's been living in terrible conditions.
He blames his landlord for not taking care of the ceiling, as well as other issues throughout the house.
"The don't want to fix anything. That's why I want to move on," Pierre said.
But for now, he has nowhere to go.
So the firefighters who responded to the scene are going above and beyond the call of duty to help the Pierre family.
"We found out he was a firefighter from Haiti with a two month old (and) a wife being transferred to the hospital," Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Lt. Dave Gonzalez said. "He's got a 78-year-old mother living with him and two other children, ages 5 and 6 . We needed to do something to help them."
Lt. Gonzalez collected almost $300 in donations from fellow firefighters to give family, because he said a more traditional aid option is not available to them.
"Red Cross, from my understanding, only assists families that are displaced by natural disasters or fires," Lt. Gonzalez said.
Though the home is considered an unsafe structure, Pierre and his family to spend the night there Friday.
He said, "I would leave but I don't know what I can do to live."
