Harlem Boy Plunges Into Basement,
Grateful To Be Alive After Terrifying Fall
"I'd like to thank God for giving me another chance," said the plucky 10-year-old.
"I'd like to thank my father for risking his life, and I'd like to thank the [firefighters] for helping me."
NY Daily News 7/22/09
A
10-year-old Harlem boy took a terrifying plunge Tuesday after a
sidewalk grate outside a vacant restaurant gave way, hurling him
into an empty cellar.
Aboubaca Meite was running on Morningside Ave. a few steps ahead
of his father when he stepped on the grate and shrieked as it
collapsed, his family said.
"He was screaming 'Daddy, Daddy, I need help, don't leave me,' "
recalled the boy's shaken father, Zuomana Meite, 54. "I couldn't
believe it, I didn't know what to do."
The boy fell about 8 feet, hitting his head and landing
awkwardly on his leg when he crashed onto the concrete under the
former M&G's Soul Food restaurant.
Aboubaca only sprained his leg and was able to leave Harlem
Hospital just hours after the 1:30 p.m. accident.
"It just suddenly fell," said Aboubaca, a fourth-grader at
Public School 129. "It was dark in the hole [and] I was scared.
"I'm fine," he said as he left the hospital in a wheelchair.
"But I'm still in pain."
Aboubaca was walking with his father and 12-year-old sister
Aminata moments before he fell near 125th St., witnesses said.
"This little boy was running across it and the whole thing just
gave away," said Pace Butler, superintendent of an adjacent
building.
"His father jumped in to try and save him," said Butler, "but I
told him, 'No, don't do it,' 'cause he could get hurt."
Seeing his son whimpering for help, Zuomana Meite leaped into
the cellar but did not move his son for fear of injuring him
further, he said.
"As a father, I had to go down," said Meite, a recently laid-off
utility worker. "I was scared to pull him up."
A crowd of onlookers rushed to the grate and several called 911,
officials said. Within minutes, firefighters arrived and took
the child to the hospital.
"We were very lucky," said Meite, who gashed his leg when he
jumped after his son. "If I weren't there, I don't know what
would have happened."
"I'd like to thank God for giving me another chance," said the
plucky 10-year-old. "I'd like to thank my father for risking his
life, and I'd like to thank the [firefighters] for helping me."
Aboubaca will return to the hospital today for further
treatment, his father said.
The building, at 143 Morningside Ave., is owned by Minnie
Gadceden, according to Buildings Department records. Attempts to
reach the owner were unsuccessful.
A Buildings spokesman said the department had not determined if
the building would face any violations as a result of the
accident.
jlemire@nydailynews.com
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