Man flown to hospital after construction site fall

March 25, 2004|by GREGORY T. SIMMONS

A 37-year-old man suffered head injuries and broken bones Wednesday morning when he fell about 30 feet from a roof at a construction site on Wesel Boulevard, Hagerstown Police Department officers said.

The man, whose identity was not immediately released, was flown by a Maryland State Police helicopter to Washington County Hospital for treatment.

Detective Patricia Moulton said the man, whose last known address was in Columbus, Ind., was stabilized at Washington County Hospital and transferred to the University of Maryland's R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.

Moulton said the man was in critical condition Wednesday afternoon but doctors expected him to live. She said she was told that the man suffered multiple compound fractures to both arms and legs as well as facial injuries.

The injured man was working at the site along Wesel Boulevard where the Lowe's Flatbed Distribution Center is under construction. The man was inside a warehouse that is under construction.

One worker there said he was with about five workers on the ground when the man fell. Victor Gutierrez said he was about 100 feet away under a partially enclosed roof when he saw the man fall through the ceiling.

Gutierrez said the corrugated roofing material "folded" underneath the man.

Gutierrez said he and others rushed over, and the man was able to speak.

Moulton said the man works for Premier Steel Inc., of Indianapolis. She said he was installing roofing and was wearing a harness, but the harness was not attached to a tie-off cable that could have prevented the fall.

Moulton said city police and the local office for Maryland Occupational Safety and Health would continue to investigate the accident.

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