Gory horror in Hell’s Kitchen
Buzzing saw flies into woman
A massive constructionsaw blade came loose at a city work site in Hell’s Kitchen and went flying through the air Tuesday morning — striking a female pedestrian, witnesses and officials said.
“It was like a scene from a horror movie,” witness Lillian Santiago told The Post.
“This large circular saw disk that is used to cut pavement had disconnected from the machine and was moving at a very high velocity, maybe 60 mph,” Santiago said. “I saw it almost hit the crossing guard and then bounce up as high as the canopy of that tree, and then it went up the [east side of the] sidewalk.
The blade flew off around 8:30 a.m. on Ninth Avenue near West 48th Street, hit a curb and flew 10 feet in the air before plummeting and striking the woman, officials said.
“People were scattering and screaming, and then it struck one woman,” Santiago said. “She was bleeding a lot. She was on the ground bent over. She didn’t know what happened.”
The jaggededged blade, which is about 3 feet in diameter and cuts through concrete, struck the 43yearold woman on the right arm and right leg, sources said.
She was taken to Bellevue Hos pital with deep lacerations, but none lifethreatening, lawenforcement sources said.
The saw was being used by workers laying underground water pipes for the city.
The man operating the saw “looked really upset and was screaming and yelling, ‘Out of the way! Out of the way!’ ” Santiago said.
A female crossing guard who was almost hit said she thought the flying blade was coming straight at her.
“I thought it was going to kill me,’’ the 52yearold crossing guard said.
“The plate came flying out of the machine and went up the sidewalk and hit a lady . . . I didn’t want to look. It was horrible.”
A construction notice near the scene of the accident attributed the neighborhood hardhat work to the city’s Department of Design and Construction.
That agency is in the middle of the fiveyear project to install new water mains in the area.
“The safety of those who live or work near our construction sites is of the utmost importance to us,” the DDC said in a statement.
“We have directed the contractor to not use any other saws on the job site until the equipment is inspected and confirmed to be in proper working condition.”