By Ben Fractenberg and Julie Shapiro
DNAinfo Staff
EAST VILLAGE — A worker at an East Village construction site fell 15 feet Friday afternoon after the scaffolding he was standing on collapsed, authorities said.
The worker sustained minor injuries to his head just before 3 p.m., when he fell from one stairwell landing to another inside 710 E. Ninth St., a boarded-up building near Avenue C, FDNY Battalion Chief James Costello and fire officials said.
Because of construction being done inside the building, workers had to lower the injured employee from the exterior of the building, where an ambulance transported him to Bellevue Hospital, Costello and fire officials said.
"He was conscious and in pain," Costello noted.
The cause of the scaffolding collapse was not immediately clear.
The former Henry Street Settlement Day Care building is being converted to affordable housing, according to city records. Workers are adding one floor with nearly 4,000 square feet to the four-story building, which will have 45 units when the renovation is complete, according to DOB records.
