Crime & Safety
2 Kids Sent to Hospital After Being Hit by Crumbling Ceiling at Eastern Parkway Station
A 12-year-old got three stitches after being struck by debris from a crumbling ceiling at the Eastern Parkway-Brooklyn Museum subway stop, while another boy was bruised in the shoulder.
Parts of the ceiling of the Eastern Parkway-Brooklyn Museum 2/3 subway stop crumbled and hit two children in the head on Saturday afternoon, sending them to the hospital, a Metropolitan Transit Authority spokeswoman said.
Christopher Ennis, 12, of Flatbush received three stitches on his head after being cut by debris. Stanley Jenkins, 11, of Brownsville was bruised on the shoulder, Stanley's mother said.
"They need to maintain their stops, because this is crazy," said Mildred Smith, Stanley's mother. "I know they have a lot of stations, but they've got to maintain them. They've got to do more than just sweep down there."
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Smith, Stanley and Christopher, who is Smith's boyfriend's son, were walking on the Manhattan-bound platform, headed to the library, around 4 p.m. Saturday when Smith heard the boys cry out and something heavy hit the Manhattan-bound platform, Smith said.
When she looked behind her, the two boys were bleeding.
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"When I turned around, I was hysterical. I saw it falling down on them and thought it was worse than it was," she said.
She left the boys on a bench with a Good Samaritan and pounded on the station agent's window to get help. Other people in the station who saw what had happened ran above ground to call for help, too, Smith said.
When Patch arrived, paramedics were examining the boys. They then put Ennis on a board to stabilize his neck for fear of a spinal cord injury.
The boys were taken to Kings County Hospital, an FDNY spokesman said.
Ennis, a 7th grader at Channel View School for Research in Rockaway Park, said he will never think about the subway the same way.
"I'm just gonna freak out if I ever have to ride the subway again," he said.
MTA spokeswoman Judie Glave said station maintenance workers investigated the incident, and that it was plaster that fell from the ceiling of the station hitting the boys.
Smith said she was positive that what fell on Ennis and her son was no flimsy plaster.
"It wasn't plaster. It was concrete. It was rocks!" she said. "If it were plaster, they wouldn't have gotten hurt."
Glave could not immediately comment on upcoming repairs planned for the station. Prospect Heights Patch will keep you posted.
