Chicago teen injured after partial house collapse speaks to CBS 2

CHICAGO (CBS) — A 14 year old girl injured in partial house collapse spoke out after she and her friend were walking to a bus stop after school last Thursday when she said she was hit by bricks.

D'Mariya Coleman describes the head trauma she suffered after this home in the 5300 block of W. Grand Avenue partially collapsed on top of her and a friend last Thursday.

Bricks from the upper level of a house collapsed on the teenagers.

“That's when, I guess, the brick hit me in the head because my vision got all blurry. At first I didn't see the bricks until my vision came back, and I sat down, and like blood was coming down my head and my sides,” she said.

She and her father, Dajuan Coleman, shared a video of Coleman being treated for two head injuries in the emergency room at Stroger Hospital.

“My daughter was paranoid, asking me questions like she was going to make it,” Coleman said, adding that the bricks falling on her not only left her with scratches on her arm and leg, but also back pain. constant.

A nurse arrived on scene and stayed with D'mariya until an ambulance arrived. Her father said he owed a debt of gratitude to the Good Samaritan for keeping his daughter calm until help arrived.

“They did a scan and realized she had a hairline fracture in her back,” he said.

D'Mariya Coleman said she is still in pain.

“I have back pain. For example, I can't walk much and I can't really bend over, otherwise it will start to hurt. I can't lie on my stomach because it makes me also hurts my back, and when I move my shoulder, it also hurts a lot,” she said. “My jaw hurts a lot, for example, to open and eat.”

A police report also details multiple injuries to D'Mariya's friend. Among them is a “…broken left hand.” The report also states that the building owner told police “…that he was at the property earlier in the day and was aware that the property needed structural work.”

He also said a City of Chicago building inspector “…deemed the building structurally safe” and was working with the “…owner to have the building closed and secured.”

A check of Department of Buildings records shows the property was inspected in 2006, 2007 and 2019 and failed each time. Violations include torn, missing, rolled roofing and missing window frame moldings.

CBS 2 reached out to the owner of the building, but there has been no response so far.

The Chicago Department of Buildings said it cited the owner for minor violations in 2019, adding those issues were not related to last week's collapse.

Coleman said she was a salutatorian at her elementary school and now attends Prosser Career Academy in second grade, just feet from where she and her friend were injured. She is also on the cheerleading team and said summer camp won't happen now.

Her father said he was just grateful his daughter was alive.

“I'm lucky to have my child and everything, but I don't even understand how something like this could happen,” Coleman said.