EAST FLATBUSH — A doctor bolted into action when he heard that a falling electrical pole knocked a construction worker down a 15-foot hole outside his East Flatbush hospital Friday morning, the doctor said.
Dr. Brian Yokers, 36, was inside the emergency room at Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center, 585 Schenectady Ave., near Rutland Road, about 8:15 a.m., when he heard a that someone was in cardiac arrest outside where crews were replacing underground sewer lines, he and witnesses said.
A worker, who colleagues said is from Portugal and had been with the company for only three months, was standing near a trench when a backhoe snagged a power line which knocked a wooden pole into him which sent him down, FDNY officials said.
"I saw a wire snap from the pole and heard a gentleman scream," said Mike Khalil, a hospital worker who was parking his car nearby.
Yokers ran out and reached a pile of dirt and sewer pipes where he saw the worker unconscious at the bottom of the 15-foot-deep hole, he said.
"I assessed the situation to see whether it was safe and went down a ladder that the workers had placed there," said Yokers, who's been at the hospital for two years and has some first responder training.
The man's head was at an odd angle and he was coated in dirt, Yokers said.
"I knew I had to be extremely delicate because of the possibility of a neck or spine injury," Yokers said.
"I held his head and shouted for someone to call 911," the doctor added.
When emergency responders finally arrived, Yokers helped them stabilize the worker with a cervical collar so he could be put into a basket and lifted to safety, he said.
He was treated at Kings County Hospital, where he's listed in critical condition, officials said.
"He's in bad shape," said FDNY Capt. John Scotch.
The victim worked for Staten Island-based Perfetto Enterprises, which declined to comment.
(DNAinfo/Gary Kane)
