2 Hurt When Bedroom Ceiling Collapses In Crown Heights NYCHA Apartment
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A Brooklyn couple says they're grateful to be alive after the entire ceiling above their bed collapsed on top of them early Sunday morning.
Daniel Jeter Sr. says he's traumatized after being woken up around 2 a.m. by a terrifying noise coming from his son's bedroom. The family lives in a top floor apartment at the Weeksville Gardens Public Housing Development in Crown Heights.
"I was in the next room and we heard this loud crash," he told CBS2's Hazel Sanchez. "I jumped up and I just heard screaming, and I ran in here and they were covered."
Jeter's son, Daniel Jr., and his girlfriend, Tytahnisha Moulterie, were buried under huge chunks of water-soaked plaster and insulation. The entire ceiling above them had collapsed, and Daniel Jr. said he had noticed the troublesome ceiling was leaking before it gave way.
"It started coming down heavy," he said. "By the time I could look up, everything came down. The whole ceiling came down."
Daniel Sr. frantically pulled the couple out from under piles of debris. Fortunately, neither of them were seriously injured.
"Very scary, like, it was really a like life and death situation," Moulterie said. "Like, we could have been really actually hurt, like, more seriously than what we really are."
Daniel Sr. was worried the rest of the ceiling would cave in.
Moulterie and her boyfriend live in a top floor apartment, and this was the third collapse in 11 months. Part of the living room ceiling fell in on Friday.
In a statement sent to CBS2 Sunday evening, the NYCHA called the collapse "unacceptable."
"Our staff is making repairs now and working to provide a new home to these residents immediately," the statement continued. "We must do better to provide all residents the safe, clean and connected communities they deserve."
The family says they have no insurance to pay for the property they lost in the collapse, and add they plan to seek legal advice on moving forward.
