According to the New York Post on Jan. 13, a Queens woman is only alive today because of her size. Ulanda Williams, 32, weighs 400 pounds and if she didn't, she’d probably be dead right now after suffering a dangerous and possibly deadly fall.
Ms. Williams was waiting for a bus on Friday evening when she tried to go under an awning to get out of the rain. The ground suddenly shifted and she was swallowed up by a vault cellar.
“Nothing, nothing,” she said. “It happened so instantly that I didn't even recognize anything. Cement was all over me, debris. They had a bed frame down there, broken pipes and wood pieces. It was a hollow place.”
“It was horrible, absolutely horrible,” said Williams, who broke her arm in two places in the 6-foot fall. Williams said there were no signs anywhere to indicate possible danger.
The City Department of Buildings inspectors found that a 4-by-6-foot section of sidewalk had collapsed into a vault cellar due to defective steel doors leading to the vault. It was found that the building had several open violations.
A maintenance worker who lives in the building next door said the fall could have easily proved fatal to Ms. Williams and he’s glad she’s alive.
“Thank God, they said that my size was the only thing that saved me,” the social worker told The Post as she was discharged from New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
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Atlantic City Baby Boomer Examiner
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