Construction worker injured in Broadway scaffolding collapse

A section of scaffolding in front of 210 W. 251st St., collapsed Thursday afternoon, trapping a construction worker underneath the wreckage.

The scaffolding was compromised when Juan Lombert, who was moving out of the building, accidentally hit it with a U-Haul truck. The scaffolding was tilted, held back only by a high-tension power line in front of the seven-story building.

Lombert immediately called police and fire officials, he said, who in turn kept the street closed for nearly three hours.  A small group of firefighters and two police officers virtually stood guard in front of the building, keeping people and cars away from the unstable structure.

Empire Scaffolding Systems, the company contracted to build the scaffolding several months ago, showed up around 2:45 p.m. to fix the issue. However, during that work, the structure collapsed, injuring one of Empire’s employees.

“They thought they could fix it, so they tried to hold it up with their truck and went on top,” said Tariq Chaundry, whose company — Rapid Masonry Repair — hired Empire to build the scaffolding. “They started dismantling and everything came down.”

The worker, whose name was not released, was taken by ambulance to an area hospital, but Chaundry said he’s expected to be OK.

“He was complaining of a bit of shoulder pain, but that’s it,” Chaundry said.

A resident of 210 W. 250th told a different story. Iris McRae said she watched from her fire escape as the scaffolding fell on top of the worker.

“I just started praying … his feet were moving,” she said, “You could see his head was bleeding and the paramedics got him removed.”

West 250th Street remained closed throughout the late afternoon Thursday.