Thursday, September 20, 2012

Totally Unexpected Danger: Wall Street



In New York City, particularly on the the Street of Dreams, Wall Street, people go about their lives knowing that, at any moment, something could randomly fall on them, be it the market, a poorly installed air conditioner, a crumbling facade, a piece of construction material, or a cat. A freshman at Kings College was walking to the Broad Street J/Z station when a futon mattress fell from the sky and knocked him unconscious. Two witnesses say the mattress toppled off the top of a building some 30 stories up. Considering how heavy those futon mattresses can be, this guy's lucky he didn't break his neck—and he knows it. Jesse Scott Owen, the victim, is out of the hospital and tells us he's grateful to be alive, the Gothamist reports.

Owen, who just moved to NYC from Florida three weeks ago, says he was on his way to catch the subway to school when near-death came from above. "I was walking on the left side of the street—which I never do—and as I'm walking I get hit on the head with something. I was knocked out, I don't know for how long. I was awoken by people were putting me up on the mattress, including one man who I think worked for the Stock Exchange."

The NYPD told Owen's mother the mattress might have blown off of the roof of a spa during today's high winds. And one woman who witnessed the incident told Owen's friends that she saw it fall from very high up. (Another witness told us earlier, "It must have flown off a rooftop terrace at least 30 floors up as I work on the 24th floor and saw it come down from above.") However, no police report was filled out, according to Owen's mother. As it happens, this rooftop spa at the Setai Wall Street on 40 Broad appears to have mattresses that look just like the one that fell on Owen….

No comments:

Post a Comment