Worker Gives Harrowing Account of Building Collapse

Ignatius "Don" Regis said he knew something was wrong as soon as he heard strange sounds coming from the roof of the Carlton Mews construction site early Monday.

"It was overloaded and creaking," Regis said. "The supervisor, he tried to stop it... but it was too late."

Regis said he was feet away from a section of metal roofing at the top of the structure at 225-233 Carlton Ave.

The collapse caused two workers to plummet four stories from the roof to the basement with a cascade of concrete blocks falling on top of them, he said.

"They looked really bad," Regis said of the men, one of whom was declared dead at Brooklyn Hospital.

The second man, 43, was sent to Kings County Hospital with a shoulder injury, officials said.

Sitting on the stoop of a brownstone across the street from Carlton Mews, Regis was stunned by an incident that took the life of a co-worker and left him indefinitely out of work.

A resident of Whitman Houses in Fort Greene, Regis said he and his fallen co-worker had worked on the site for five months with no problems.

According to the city Department of Buildings website, there is one open complaint at the property for failing to adequately maintain material stored on the roof of the structure, which is being developed by Professional Grade Construction Group.

Michael Donnelly, city representative of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, slammed both the developer and DOB for not providing adequate protections, wages and benefits for workers at the site.

"Until the city Department of Buildings stops handing out building permits to anyone with a stamped set of architectural drawings you are going to have these kind of problems and accidents where people are getting hurt and killed," Donnelly said.

DOB is investigating the incident. A woman answering the phone at the developer's Brooklyn office would not comment on Donnelly's statement.

Regis remembered his fallen co-worker as a friendly man who seemed younger than his 67 years of age.

"He was very active," he said. "To me, he seemed like in his early 60s."

Regis said his fatally injured co-worker was a Brooklyn resident of Jamaican descent. Officials have not released the name of the man pending family notification.