CBS New York reported Tuesday morning that a sinkhole in Brooklyn, New York opened up and a man fell into it, injuring himself. Still shocked at what happened to him, 28-year-old Stephen Suarez, was recovering at home after his terrible and very painful ordeal.
Suarez was returning to his place of work between the Walworth Street and Myrtle Avenue crosswalk in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn when he fell into a Sinkhole.
Sinkhole swallowed up his leg
It was around 11:15 AM when Suarez fell into the sinkhole with his right leg falling into it first, followed by the growing sinkhole swallowing him all the way up to his hip.
Suarez reported he was in a great deal of pain after falling straight down. He said he fell straight through the sinkhole onto his tailbone.
Suarez thought he was going to be completely swallowed up by the ground. He remembers being very scared and had no idea what was going to happen to him or what was happening to him at the time.
Witnesses were in shock
Witnesses at the scene were in total shock after seeing the young man being swallowed up by the road. Danny Flores, one of the witnesses at the scene told CBS that everything stopped, including the traffic, after the young man went down. Flores went on to say that he had never witnessed anything like that before in his life. Jokingly he added, anything can happen in New York.
Suarez was treated and released from NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull. His father told CBS2 earlier that he was suffering from back, hip, and ankle pain after the Accident and underwent X-rays to make sure he was going to be okay.
Terrorized by the freak accident
Suarez was alarmed by the freak accident and terrified at the thought of what could have happened to him.
The Department of Transportation made sure to patch up the hole quickly so that no one else could get injured by the sinkhole. Investigators from the Department of Environmental Protection are working to figure out why the street suddenly gave out. Investigators reported that the sewers and all water mains were in good working order.
Residents worry about more sinkholes
Residents of the Bedford-Stuyvesant area are now worried that other sinkholes might happen. One Williamsburg resident, Erik Herrera, imagined what would have happened if he had gone through the sinkhole with his bike. He worries his situation could have been much worse and caused him much more bodily damage.
Suarez's freakish situation resulted in a hairline fracture in his leg. He hopes to take it easy for a few days so he can mend his leg and calm his nerves.
