By Gabriela Resto-Montero
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
UPPER EAST SIDE – A worker received an electric shock while taking down an awning over a First Avenue restaurant and was rushed to the hospital Tuesday.
The man, who coworkers said was working for the Capitol Awning Company, was removing the awning over the entrance to Cavatappo Grill at 1712 First Ave. at East 89th Street shortly before 10 a.m. when he screamed out in pain, witnesses said.
He was taken to New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center via ambulance, a fire department spokesman said.
Coworkers said the man, who had worked with the company for the past decade, was standing on a ladder beneath the awning and had reached up to remove the old awning when he screamed. He froze in place, then climbed down the ladder and began convulsing and lost consciousness, a coworker said.
Colleagues speculated that teams may not have disconnected all of the electricity in the area, and that the man may have brushed a stray cable or live light socket beneath the awning.
Cavatappo Grill owner Lupa Marcato said he was in the back office of the restaurant when the man was shocked, and said he didn’t learn of the incident until after the worker had already been transported to the hospital.
“I came out and I was surprised,” Marcato said. He said the building is responsible for the awning replacement.
Calls to the Capitol Awning Company were not immediately returned.
