A boom truck on a school construction site collapsed into a neighboring church on Wednesday, August 3. Photo by Lloyd Mitchell

A boom truck operating on a Greenwood Heights construction site tipped over and collapsed into a neighboring church Wednesday morning.

The incident occurred a little after 9 a.m. as the boom truck — a heavy-duty vehicle with a collapsible crane attached to its bed — was being used to unload a tractor full of building materials on a construction site at 836-841 5th Avenue. There at the intersection of 36th Street, across from Green-Wood Cemetery, the city is erecting a new 400-seat public school.

Inspectors with the Department of Buildings said that the truck tipped over on its side and collapsed during the unloading process, tumbling into the neighboring ACTS Christian Church.

The collapse took out a substantial portion of the church’s brick facade. Photo by Lloyd Mitchell

The crash took out a sizable chunk of brickwork on the building’s second-floor facade.

A Fire Department spokesperson said that first responders evacuated three people from the church’s premises, and building inspectors are working to determine whether the building remains structurally sound and how to remove the boom from the edifice. Luckily, first responders reported no injuries from the collapse.

The church at 467 36th Street in 2015. Photo by Christopher Bride for PropertyShark

A spokesperson for the School Construction Authority, which designs and builds public school facilities for the Department of Education, did not identify any cause for the collapse, noting that the incident remains under investigation.

Editor’s note: A version of this story originally ran in Brooklyn Paper. Click here to see the original story.

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