Nobody saw it happen. Nobody heard the tremendous crash. In the very heart of the crowded Galaxy Towers Condominium, a strange and spectacular accident took place and nobody even knew it occurred – except the one resident who escaped death by a mere whisper.
It was two days after Christmas. The resident took the elevator down to the garage, built in the cliffs beneath the three towers of the condominium, exiting on level 12 at a little before noon. He got in his 2004 silver Pontiac and started his engine as usual.
Then in an instant everything went violently wrong.
Instead of pulling slowly out of the parking space, the car lurched backwards and shot across the lot, slamming into a concrete wall. And then it kept going, bursting through the wall into a ventilation shaft servicing the multiple floors of the garage.
The car shot into the shaft, no bigger than an elevator shaft, built to circulate air throughout the garage. Inside its four concrete walls the car tipped and plummeted downwards, falling an incredible seven stories to smash to a halt on the fifth floor.
Nobody was around. Nobody heard the car smash through the cement wall, the thunder as it careened down the shaft, the roar as it slammed to the bottom.
Then an amazing thing happened. The resident climbed out of the sunroof of his car, called 911, and waited for rescuers to arrive.
He was 80 years old.
The rescue
“A call came in that a car fell from the 14th floor down a hole,” said Sgt. Rafael Martinez, who was first on the scene. “We didn’t know what hole they were talking about.”
Entering the lot on the 11th floor, Martinez was driving his patrol car up to 14 when he spotted the burst wall of the air shaft.
“When [the driver] called he said he was on 14. It was actually 12,” said Martinez. “I stopped my car and looked down and saw the car.”
At first Martinez couldn’t see the driver. “You could just see smoke from the debris. After looking I saw his jacket and then I responded to a lower level.”
From a fan opening on the sixth floor Martinez was able to see inside the shaft and speak with the driver trapped one floor below.
“He came out of the car through the sunroof and he was on top of the car,” said Martinez. But there was a new problem. “He slipped and got wedged in between the car and the wall of the air shaft.”
Officer Brian Eckenrode and Investigator Laura Sorto soon arrived, along with EMS and the fire department. Through it all, Martinez continued speaking with the driver through the vent opening.
“We were talking to him trying to keep him awake,” he said. “He was alert. He knew where he was. He knew what happened. He knew his address so he was aware. But he was beaten up.”
The fire department entered the shaft through an access panel on the fifth floor. Rescuers used the Jaws of Life, a hydraulic rescue tool used to extricate crash victims from inside crumpled vehicles, to push the car away from the wall so the driver could move his leg.
Then he was taken to Jersey City Medical Center for treatment. Astonishingly, he had no major injuries.
“He wasn’t charged with anything,” said Sgt. Juan Barrera. “It was just an accident.”
Inside the shaft
The interior of the shaft contains fans on each floor to circulate air throughout the garage. “On the way down he hit every single fan,” said Martinez. “But that’s basically what saved his life.”
The fans slowed the car on its descent.
“They’re looking to see how they can support the shaft to pull the car out,” said Martinez. “They called inspectors to see what they can do.”
Meanwhile the car is still stuck inside the shaft, crammed into the confined space like an XL foot in a ballet slipper.
Art Schwartz may be reached at arts@hudsonreporter.com.