Woman claims chronic water leak caused ceiling to collapse onto sleeping daughter at Ronkonkoma apartment
RONKONKOMA, N.Y. -- A leaky roof at a Long Island apartment led to terrifying moments when the living room ceiling collapsed, sending debris and water cascading onto a sleeping teen.
Elie Salinas was filled with emotion after chunks of the ceiling at her Ronkonkoma apartment came crashing down onto her 12-year-old daughter, Sasha Gaenzle, at 4 a.m.
"It was like a huge collapse, and I opened my eyes and I heard my daughter screaming," said Salinas.
Sasha was sleeping on the couch when the ceiling gave way. She was trapped under sheetrock, insulation and debris.
"I look up and this big board falls on my stomach," said Sasha. "Another board fell on my head and my back. I was trapped and like suffocating."
The 7th grader suffers from asthma. Her frantic mother pulled her out.
"She was soaking wet, and there was like a huge thing of water coming, flooding," said Salinas.
Salinas said she documented water leaking into her apartment in April 2022. She said the ceiling was stained from chronic roof leaks and that she asked the management of Colony Park Apartments to fix it.
"They came and just put like a coat of paint, and then they told me that they can't do anything because the roofers they are not around," said Salinas.
Salinas showed us multiple email receipts for complaints she filed on the tenant portal, but the leaks continued, she said.
Her attorney called it gross negligence.
"The building had notice over and over and over again, and they just disregarded the notice. They did nothing at all to repair or even come and check," said attorney Kenneth Mollins.
Salinas and her daughter said they're now coughing from the dust.
No one from the Colony Park Apartments leasing office or Heatherwood Communities responded to our inquiries.
Repairs have been made since the collapse and the family has been put up in a hotel.
"How many hours I work to buy all my stuff and everything is ruined," said Salinas.
Sasha said she's afraid to return to apartments and wonders what's being done to prevent this from happening again.
Salinas filed a lawsuit.
