NEW YORK — The owner of a Long Island construction company has been sentenced to prison in connection with a wall that collapsed in 2019, killing a child.
The company was also fined.
5-year-old girl killed in 2019 Brooklyn wall collapse
The collapse occurred on August 29, 2019, in a three-story building at 444 Harman St. in Bushwick.
According to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, 5-year-old Alysson Pinto-Chaumana was standing with her mother and several friends in the courtyard of the building when heavy stone pillars and a stone slab from a wall suddenly fell, hitting Alysson.
She was taken to a local hospital, where she died of her injuries.
Nadeem Anwar, City Wide Construction and Renovations Convicted in Deadly Brooklyn Wall Collapse
According to the Public Prosecution Service, Nadeem Anwar and his company, City Wide Construction and Renovationswere hired in September 2018 to renovate the building’s facade and build the wall. The DA’s office says Anwar was licensed as a contractor in Nassau County but was not authorized to apply for work permits from the New York City Department of Buildings.
Anwar reportedly had another contractor apply for the facade work, but he never received a permit from the DOB to build the stone wall, nor did he have a licensed engineer or architect check the stability of the wall after it was built.
According to the Public Prosecution Service, an engineer from the DOB who investigated after the collapse found that the wall was very unstable, in violation of building regulations and ‘very life-threatening’.
In May 2024, Anwar and his company were convicted of manslaughter, first-degree offering a false document for filing, and second-degree falsifying business records.
Anwar was sentenced to six months in jail and five years probation. City Wide was fined $5,000.
