5-year-old Brooklyn girl dies after stone fence falls on her crushing her skull as mother watches in horror
NEW YORK: A five-year-old child has died after a stone fence reportedly fell on her head and crushed her. Alysson Pinto-Chaumana was with her mother when the tragic accident took place on Thursday, August 29, at 9 pm.
Little Alysson and her mother were leaving her uncle's apartment when parts of a heavy stone wall outside the building came crashing down on her, according to reports by ABC and the New York Daily News.
Speaking to Telemundo, her mother Maira Lorena Chaumana shared, "I look to the side and then I see her fall back and was crushed — her whole head was crushed."
The mother and daughter were on Harman Street in Bushwick, Brooklyn, when the incident happened. Chaumana recalled how there was an ambulance just around the corner and she ran to them with Alysson in her arms. The ambulance rushed the child to the Wyckoff Heights Medical Center where medical staff could not revive her because of her severe head trauma.
Surveillance footage captured from the building reveals how the shocking incident unfolded. It shows Alysson walking near the fence of ornamental pillars when the walls come crashing down on her. The footage then shows her mother running up to her and picking her up from the rubble along with nearby bystanders. They then rush out towards the street looking for help.
The building's landlord Harry Netchandro told ABC, "The baby did not climb on it, it just fell down. It's very hard to believe how the fence can drop like that." On Friday, August 30, night, Alysson's family held a vigil for her and mourners gathered near the sidewalk where the child had died.
Her father, Edgar Pinto, shared with New York Daily News that the pillars were haphazardly installed and not secured to the base of the fence properly. The Department of Buildings has ordered the building to remove the fence.
They also proceeded to file a violation for failure to maintain the property against the building's owner. The violation comes with a fine ranging from $6,000 to $25,000, DOB officials revealed.
Building owner Netchandro shared, "We have no idea how it happened. Everyone we've talked to said it was sturdy. We would lean on it and everything. It’s just something that happened, an accident. We feel horrible. We feel terrible. We saw the stepfather last night after it happened and we hugged and everything."