Yesterday, a woman and a child were both seriously injured after a metal roll-down gate collapsed in Park Slope. The accident happened around 4:15 p.m. outside the 5th Avenue Cat Clinic at 225 5th Avenue (near President Street). Nanny Nosrat Dezfoulian suffered head injuries and the toddler's leg was broken in three places. “I looked up and I saw it falling, coming at me,’’ Dezfoulian told the Post after she was released from the hospital. “The only thing on my mind was to save the baby. I tried to shield the baby, but I couldn’t.’’
Witness Christine Castellano said Dezfoulian’s “head was split open and gushing blood all down her face...The boy’s leg looked crushed and bent in different directions.” Dezfoulian required stiches and staples to close her head wound. The little boy underwent surgery last night for his broken leg; he also had a gash to the chin.
Witness Bethany O'Grady, who was in a nearby store at the time, gave us an account of the accident: "When I went outside there were people surrounding the woman, who was on the sidewalk with blood covering her face, and the child had blood on his leg and he was inconsolable." The toddler's mother arrived five minutes after the accident: "The look on her face broke my heart."

Cleaning up the building after the accident last night (Kristina Monllos)
As for why the accident occurred, investigators told CBS it was likely due to age and poor maintenance: “It’s probably been up 30-40 years. Between salt, the rain, the water, probably what caused this to fall,” said Duane Rose of the city’s Office of Emergency Management. City inspectors issued a citation to the building's owner, 4G Realty LLC, for failing to maintain the building.
But 4G denied responsibility for maintaining the gate: “It is not my responsibility to inspect that gate. It is the responsibility of the store owner,” the representative said. A Department of Buildings source disagreed, saying it's up to building owners to check the security gates, adding the city doesn't inspect them because “it’s not a permitted part of the building”—they're considered cosmetic, so there is "no mechanism to periodically inspect them.”
An employee at the Cat Clinic refused to answer any questions about the accident.