EXCLUSIVE: Boys Injured In Brooklyn Wall Collapse Tell Tale Of Horror
NEW YORK (CBS 2) -- Two Brooklyn boys who were seriously hurt in a backyard wall collapse two weeks ago are out of the hospital and spoke exclusively to CBS 2 on Thursday night
Their injuries were so extensive, their lives may be changed forever, Derricke Dennis reported.
It's been a tough two weeks for 10-year-old Nathyiz Figueroa of Bushwick.
"I can't believe I survived it," Figueroa said. "My leg and my chest, and my head, right here."
Figueroa was showing Dennis where he was injured as a result of the wall collapse in his backyard.
Heavy cinder blocks and concrete mortar fell on him and his cousin, 11-year-old William Arango, while they were playing. William was crushed, suffering severe internal injuries, and now wears a back brace. His eyes were swollen and red on Thursday night.
Arango told Dennis he doesn't remember what happened that night.
"It fell on me, this way, like I was bent this way," Figueroa said, demonstrating.
It was around 8 p.m. on Friday, April 13, when the wall separating their backyard from a construction project next door gave way. Both boys were pinned underneath, after trying to climb over the wall to get their ball.
Nathyiz was able to free himself and get help, but William couldn't move.
"Like he was like dead. You know how dead people are, they just move the way you make them," Figueroa said.
Nathyiz's mother said her son helped save William's life by running for help despite his own injuries. Family members and neighbors had to lift the wall off William.
"I was screaming, getting help 'cause we couldn't. It was really, really heavy," Myra Arango said.
The collapsed wall is still right where it fell. City inspectors have been to the site since the accident, and are still investigating, while the boys continue recover.
William Arango said he won't be able to go back to school for six months.
Meanwhile, the city Department of Buildings issued an indefinite "stop work order" on the construction project. Inspectors said vibrations from all the digging "compromised the wall."
"I'm just happy that both of them came out of it. They're two strong boys," Myra Arango said.
Now, they're just fighting to be normal again – to walk, run and to put the memory of the wall collapse to rest.
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