7 hurt in construction site roof collapse

Roof trusses collapsed Saturday at a partially rebuilt Mobil gas station in Liberty, seriously injuring the property's owner and leaving a worker trapped for more than an hour, police said.

Tariq Mohmood Guja was flown to Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla in critical condition after suffering a head injury when about two-thirds of the trusses atop a structure on his property at 210 N. Main St. collapsed shortly after noon, officials said.

"He was in and out of consciousness," said Detective Sgt. Scott Kinne of the Liberty Police Department.

The collapse, which came while the region was under a wind advisory calling for gusts of up to 45 miles per hour, also trapped worker Franco Suquilanda for 1½ hours under a pile of mangled wood from the trusses and part of the front wall.

Suquilanda was conscious and alert while firefighters worked to free his legs. He was taken to Catskill Regional Medical Center with leg injuries.

Five other workers were treated at the scene for minor bumps and bruises, police said.

The accident drew firefighters from Liberty, a trench-rescue team from the Monticello Fire Department and collapse teams from the Goshen and Mechanicstown fire departments.

Greenfield Park resident Lisa Nadiak stood at the site as emergency personnel began cleaning up. Nadiak said she is dating Guja's brother, who rushed to Westchester Medical Center while she drove to Liberty.

"He took a big blow to the head, but not life-threatening," she said of Guja.

Pam Winters, the village's code enforcement officer, said officials from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration would be arriving Monday to join her office and village police in investigating the cause. "I've been a building inspector for over 25 years, and I've never had a building collapse," she said.

Gene Barbanti, who chairs the village's Zoning Board, said he watched the trusses being set in place around noon.

He went in the nearby library and came out just after the collapse occurred. "Usually they cross brace when they put them up," he said of the trusses. "They did have some cross braces, but not enough."

Liberty resident Charles Schifano was one of a number of onlookers. He said he rushed to the scene from his home after his son told him about the collapse.

"They are putting this thing up way too fast," said Schifano, a former construction worker.

"Raising the walls in three weeks, that's one thing. But doing the roof in three weeks, that's pushing it."

Source: Leonard Sparks, Times Herald-Record