BOSTON (WHDH) - A woman described the moment a scaffolding plank landed next to her outside South Station in Boston Friday.
Thousands of commuters like Zoe Eisenstein pass through the doors of the station every day. New surveillance video gives a bird’s eye view of the debris coming within inches of hitting a few of them.
Eisenstein, the woman seen dressed in pink, was just a few feet away from where the plank landed. She said she heard the sound of the scaffolding hitting the side of the building before it plummeted to the ground — giving her just enough time to react.
“I thought that there was like a shooting or something in the station, so I kind of jumped out of the way, but then I saw it next to me,” Eisenstein said. “My friends, when I showed them the video, they were like, ‘Oh my God, we thought you were exaggerating!’ My mom was just like, ‘Zoe, you could have died.’ And that’s when it hit me, like oh my God.”
Eisenstein said the people near her at the time were also stunned.
“There was one woman who was like, ‘Get out of the way!’ And some people started running away a little bit. But yeah, some people screamed. It was really scary,” she said. “I just ran away. I ran away and I called an Uber and got out of there.”
One Financial Center, the building located across the street from South Station, confirmed the scaffolding fell from its roof. The scaffolding was installed by a contractor, who removed every plank from the building to ensure nothing else falls, the company said.
OSHA said it is looking into whether any safety violations led to the debris falling Friday. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said the city will take appropriate steps based on those findings.
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