Boy Falls into Open Basement

At around 1:20pm on Friday, Erev Shabbos, a 12 year old boy fell through an open set of metal doors which leads to the basement of a store on Kingston Avenue. The incident took place on the corner of Kingston and Crown where a few boys were playing and one of the boys took the nearly 10 foot plunge backwards down the stairs into the basement.

Hatzalah was called and treated the boy then transported him along with his mother to Kings County Hospital for further checkups and observation.

More pictures in the Extended Article.

32 Comments

  • A concerned CH Parent

    It’s about time store owners are held responsible for the basement doors that are always kept open. It’s crazy how many of them are so careless. there should be some law in place that makes them have to put a gate preventing these types of injuries.

  • Refuah Shelemah

    I actually went into this very store a couple of months back to tell them that their basement doors were opened with no guard, and that it was a very busy corner with kids. I hope the boy is OK.

  • ME

    I HEARD B”H THE BOY IS DOING OK, COMPARED TO THE INJURIES HE COULD HAVE AQUIRED BUT I MUST REPEAT AS A PARENT THERE SHOULD NOT BE OPEN BASEMENT DOORS

  • crown heights parent

    I hope the boy’s parents dont let the matter go so easily .They should petition so all store owners beware of this problem ,especially if they are located on kingston ave.This is a dangerous situation occuring on many busy streets .I have seen this happen in Boro Park to .I urge adults to speak up and when they see a store with its basement doors open they should say something .Speak up ,its for the safety of our children

  • outraged!

    I live out of state and come visit Crown Heights. I cant believe the nerve and irresponsbility lots of stores in the area have!! This is a danger for asll, even if you see the open gate! a baby can person can fall and roll down or trip accidently, how about a person who might lose there balnce while pushing a stroller G-D forbid!!! Shame on you all! I am sure this goes under the halacha we have not to fool the blind! and many others as well

  • a mother

    Hope the boy is fine, but this is a very important lesson for store owners, I shudder each time I pass an open gate!!

  • Joey B.

    Why isn’t the irresponsible store owner getting some sort of fine, for child endangering?
    Typical Crown Heights!!!
    Hide it under the carpet

  • mother of the kid

    I would like to thank the hatzalah crew for a qick response and the good care that they took of my son.

  • Its about time

    Its about time for something to be done!
    Whenever I walked by kingston with my 3 year old im always very scared! It is clearely written in halacha that a pit should not stay open! why should the store owners wait to be law suited in order to do something about it!

  • concerned

    from twice the kids hight – 10 foot plunge, on his back, and then what, concrete floor? that doesnt sound good. i hope the kid is alright.

    by the way, an accident is an accident, ok?

  • BrookAve

    Those silly store owners! Urge them to keep a burlap sack full of hay at the bottom of the stairs. And instruct them to have their “help” put it in place after they shlep the boxes up the stairs….yeah, right!

  • BOR BIRSHUS HARABIM

    if the store would be selling treif, the rabbanim would go bananas… why is a Bor Birshus harabim any different.. (or is batlonus a virtue in CH)

  • Freind

    Thank god the boy is okay. it would of bin mutch worse if the boy were tall.
    I think that store owner should be sued and a fines shell be given out to every store owner thet leaves there gates open.

  • Faster

    It was an accident!
    The store owners use those doors, they have a function.
    Who said there was irresponsibility should the store owner never use their basement? That’s how the building was built.
    Not every time something bad happens do we have to blame somebody.

  • improvement

    I think that this has actually been a wake up call to the stores, my daughter told me that when she came home from school today, all the store’s basement doors were either shut, or had a guard up. Unfortunately the way of the world is that people usually learn from mistakes.

  • Very angry (at this store owner) reader!

    I think that in order to prevent thigs like this from repeating themselves we must take action: ANYONE, now I repeat, ANYONE, meaning YOU! – the reader of this comment; if you spot an open gate, go inside the store and tell the owner to shut it. Now, let’s say 700 people (if not more) walk down Kingston Ave. per hour, I think (I hope so at least) that after so many people telling him (and many of them very angrily) to shut his gates he might get the message!!! No?

  • CROWN HEIGTS CAN-T BE BEAT.

    STOP PICKING ON CROWN HEIGHTS, THIS GOES ON ALL OVER NEW YORK. DOES THAT MAKE IT RIGHT? DEFINITELY NOT, BUT IT’S NOT AN EXCLUSIVE CROWN HEIGHTS PROBLEM. THAT BEING SAID, IN MY HUMBLE OPINION, IT’S A MIRACLE NOTHING HAS EVER HAPPENED UNTIL NOW. AS FOR THE LAW, IT IS A LAW THAT THEY MUST BE COVERED, AND IF THE COPS WOULD HAVE GIVEN OUT A FEW TICKETS TO STOREKEEPERS FOR DISOBEYING THIS SAFETY LAW, IN PLACE OF WORRYING WHETHER THE HARMLESS METERS HAVE EXPIRED THE WORD WOULD HAVE GOTTEN AROUND VERY FAST TO ALL STOREKEEPERS TO COVER THEIR “DEATH TRAPS”.
    THIS BOY SHOULD BENTCH GOIMEL THAT HE’S OK. THIS WAS AN ACCIDENT BEGGING TO HAPPEN. I HOPE OTHER STOREKEEPERS LEARN A LESSON FROM THIS INCIDENT.

  • Dovid L

    I think they should not sue him. a mistake is a mistake but from now on they should be giving out fines to anybody who leaves the gate open.
    and crown hights shell stop trying to hide these things they should call the cops if they see a gate open period.

  • sam

    Why go into the store? whenever im in Ch and i see those things open i shut them!!! DO THE SAME

  • Yossel

    B“H

    I’m surprised that the child’s parents haven’t SUED the store owner yet. There are a number of reasons to sue:

    1. Teach the store owner(s) a lesson
    2. The kid eventually will need IY”H to have a fancy chanssina and this will allow the parents to not go into hock to pay for it
    3. Give a poor needy ambulance chaser lawyer some parnassa

    Seriously, a lawsuit WOULD teach these “merchants” to have some consideration for the public, which they don’t have now.

    “SUE TODAY, IT’S THE FRUM THING TO DO!”

  • To Yossel

    I will say this in the nicest way possible, you are nuts!

    Suing is not the frum way, it is the corrupt American way. Yes, the store keeper should be liable for all medical expenses etc, but to sue him and try to ruin him, he is a frum guy who made a big mistake – it could have been any store on kingston, hardly any of them use guards.

    The correct thing to do is have awareness made so this will never happen again.

  • jewboy

    to yossel u wouldnt say that if it chas vasholom happin to someone in ur family!!! and besides its not gonna damage him that much just his insurance will go up and besides the fact that the store owner lied to alot of people standing around sayin it wasnt his fault and that its never open when i myself walk through kingston everyday from school and see it open not just his store but alot of them on kingston without guard

  • IN SHOCK

    OMIGOSH!!! I walked by this open basement thing, like 5 minutes earlier, and the boys there were walking up and down the VERY narrow stairs. I assumed they were working, I don’t know, helping to load boxes or something. What a shock!!!

  • Repeat Incident?

    “IT’S A MIRACLE NOTHING HAS EVER HAPPENED UNTIL NOW”

    Actually, something did happen, a couple of years back, inside a different store on Kingston Ave. You would think people would have learned their lesson…

  • Think before you write

    Why not be dan l’kaf zchus the store owner? It was obviously a mistake–albeit a dangerous one–and he must be feeling terrible for it.

  • make every effort

    My son was with the boy who fell in to the open basement door, and I am so thankful that it was not worse. I do think that if responcibilty is not taken to make every effort to do something to prevent this Has v’ Shalom from happening again then there should be some type of deterent that would make it important enough to keep this on the busy list of things the store owner has to be responcible for.