New York City DOB investigating after woman falls through apartment floor into cellar in The Bronx

HIGHBRIDGE, The Bronx (WABC) — The New York City Department of Buildings is taking a closer look at a the safety record of a Bronx building where a woman fell through her bathroom floor into the basement.

The building, 1204 Shakespeare Avenue, has a total of 38 complaints and 34 violations. Six of those violations are open.

The victim’s husband, who was inside the couple’s first-floor apartment at the time, said his 28-year-old wife walked in to the use the bathroom and the floor just collapsed, sending her down into the cellar below and leaving a 2 foot-by-4-foot hole behind.

She was rushed to the hospital but fortunately did not suffer major injuries.

The husband says his wife is conscious but remains under observation for heart issues.

City inspectors says the hole left behind was so large that it’s incredible she wasn’t hurt more severely.

The partial collapse happened Sunday morning in a 67-unit building.

The Department of Buildings arrived at the scene and discovered a portion of the floor directly in front of the shower and toilet had collapsed into the cellar below.

Some of the complaints include the only elevator in the building being out of order in 2017, as well as illegal construction in the basement that affected the structural stability in 2010, according to the DOB website.

Officials with the DOB said their preliminary investigation of the most recent incident determined that a lack of proper maintenance was a contributing factor in the collapse.

The landlord was issued a violation for failure to properly maintain the building and ordered to hire a professional engineer to submit a report on the structural stability of the floor inside the rest of the apartment.

Tenants said they weren’t surprised by the incident and that the landlord is not fixing major problems.

“Look at what happened today,” tenant Jose Merdera said. “People are getting hurt…we have been telling the landlord, please do something, please do something. They don’t fix the wall, they don’t do nothing.”

A spokesperson for the management company said the issues are being resolved and then hung up.

The building owner has another 24 hours for an engineer to access the structural stability of the floor and how to fix it.

Meanwhile, when the victim is released from the hospital, she can’t return home.

No one is allowed in the apartment until it’s deemed safe.

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