Two people were injured, one seriously, when an awning collapsed at a residential building on Saturday afternoon in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood, authorities said.
The collapse was reported at around 12:30 p.m. in the 4400 block of South Vincennes, according to the Chicago Fire Department.
One of the victims, Dexter Patterson, was treated and released from the hospital just hours after the collapsed injured him and a coworker.
“I’m blessed to be alive,” Patterson said. “I’m grateful to be alive because that thing came down really heavy, I mean big bricks.”
The 56-year-old told NBC 5 they were working on a building near 44th Place and South Vincennes Avenune when the façade came crashing down, hitting him and crushing his coworker.
“We were adding a new porch on the second floor, and the whole thing just came down, it just came down,” he said.
Heavy chunks of stone landed in front of the building in Bronzeville. Patterson tried desperately to help his coworker but couldn’t.
Local
“He was up under the rubble,” he said. “We couldn’t get to him I was trying to lift him up. We didn’t have no manpower to try to get to him.”
Paramedics arrived and rushed both men to the hospital. Patterson's coworker and friend remains in the hospital in serious condition.
Feeling out of the loop? We'll catch you up on the Chicago news you need to know. Sign up for the weekly Chicago Catch-Up newsletter.
“This has never happened to us like this before,” he said. “It scared me. It really scared me, and then I see him up under there—he couldn’t do nothing for himself.”
Chicago's Department of Buildings said an inspector was sent to assess the damage and tape off the property. While it’s unclear what caused the collapse, Patterson is thankful to be alive and hopes his coworker will make a full recovery.
“I’m surprised nobody got killed because we could have gotten killed today,” he said.
