Collapsing Concrete Wall Traps Construction Worker
Follow KDKA-TV: Facebook | Twitter
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - A person working on a sidewalk became trapped when a concrete wall collapsed.
At approximately 3:20 p.m., EMS, firefighters and Pittsburgh Police officers were called to the 3400-block of Bismark Street. Emergency responders found a man standing upright with a concrete wall leaning against him, according to officials.
Police say that two men were working along a small sidewalk area on the side of a home when a 3-4 foot concrete block wall became unstable and began to collapse around them.
For months, the homeowner and neighbors on Bismark Street in Pittsburgh's Polish Hill neighborhood feared a leaning, unsteady retaining wall would collapse.
Bob Schweiger Sr. and his friend tried to shore it up Sunday afternoon when the entire cinder-block structure came crashing down on them, pinning both men under the blocks.
Schweiger's friend was able to break free, but Schweiger was trapped and in trouble.
"When I went around the corner after I heard the thud, they were both pinned in there. Both of them were struck right up in there and I'm like, 'Oh, my Lord!'" Mike Lanese, a neighbor, said.
Mike's daughter called 911 and a team of rescuers was there within minutes.
Schweiger made a phone call to his son.
"I was at work when he called me," Bob Schweiger Jr. said. "I didn't know what was going on, if he was serious or just joking around."
Schweiger Jr. said his dad was talking and walking around his hospital room late Sunday.
The family is amazed he was not seriously injured.
