By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — A man who desperately called 911 from under a crumbled apartment building after a deadly crane collapse on East 51st Street took the witness stand Wednesday to relive his agony at the manslaughter trial of crane rigger William Rapetti.
"My first thought was I'm dead. It was so quiet, at one point I was thinking I'm dead," said John Gallego of his time buried under the rubble. He relied on his cane to walk to the witness stand Wednesday.
Gallego, now 33, was trapped under rubble seeing only pitch black for four hours, before he was rescued and taken to Bellevue Hospital where he needed several surgeries.
He managed to make a 911 using his only free hand and cried to the dispatcher for help, but was mostly incomprehensible.
"Help me!" Gallego wailed to a dispatcher [click here to listen], who repeatedly asked for a location.
Gallego lived on the second floor of 305 East 50th Street, a building adjacent to a a 400-foot crane being rigged by Rapetti Rigging Services.
As the 400-foot crane buckled and collapsed it killed seven people and crushed Gallego's building, trapping him in his second floor apartment.
Gallego's house guest, Odin Torres, was killed as she was sleeping in the one-bedroom apartment.
Rapetti is facing manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and other charges.
His bench trial opened yesterday and is expected to last six weeks. He faces 15 years in prison if convicted.
