A real estate agent and soon-to-be-married woman was killed in a freak accident that happened in a luxury condo construction site in the West Village after being hit by a large piece of ply wood torn by wind from the site’s street-level fence, according to a report by The New York Post.
At around 6 p.m. on March 17, 37-year-old Tina Nguyen was talking on a mobile phone while walking down West 12th Street when she was hit by a 4-by-8-foot board that was ripped off a fence by high winds from a construction site across the street. Authorities said her body was thrust against a building wall, while her head was smashed against a FDNY stand pipe. She was rushed to Bellevue Hospital with severe body and head trauma but was pronounced dead shortly after.
The Department of Buildings (DOB) immediately issued a stop-work order, and initiated an investigation to see if the construction firm operating at the site had violated any safety regulation that could have triggered the accident.