A Manhattan resident is frustrated by the runaround she says she’s gotten from the city while trying to get gore removed from the scene of a gruesome midtown crash last week. Checkey Beckford reports.
A Manhattan resident is frustrated by the runaround she says she's gotten from the city while trying to get gore removed from the scene of a gruesome midtown crash last week.
Cassandra Dunn first contacted NBC 4 New York with photos of what appear to be small bits of remains spattered on a light pole at 33rd Street and Lexington Avenue.
Dunn said she believes the remains were left from a crash involving an SUV, taxi cab and several pedestrians last Thursday. The FDNY confirmed two pedestrians were hurt in the crash.
She said the carnage included fat, blood and hair.
"It's pretty gross, definitely a major biohazard," she said. "People are walking by with their dogs, their children."
Though the remains haven't been tested, biowaste worker Sal Pain of Bio Recovery Corporation said at the scene Wednesday he's positive they are human.
"You have human hair, all different types of fluids," said Pain, whose company has several high-profile contracts with the city, including for potential Ebola waste removal.
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Pain said the remains will likely "just sit there until someone decides to hose it down."
Dunn has been on a mission to get the scene cleaned up since the accident, but can't find anyone to help. She called 311, who referred her to the NYPD, who referred her to the sanitation department.
She then called the state health department, who referred her to the medical examiner -- who then referred her to the forensics department.
She tried the CDC, who pointed her back to the state health department.
Dunn finally emailed the mayor's office, and she said she's still waiting for a response.
"Basically, I've been run around and no one wants to help me with this," she said.
NBC 4 New York's attempts to reach the same departments and agencies yielded the same results: each department referred questions to another.
A spokeswoman at the city's sanitation department said it was their understanding that "NYPD generally calls a medical waste removal company to crime/accident senes to remove any potential medical waste."
The NYPD did not respond to a message Wednesday. The FDNY said in certain instances, it hoses down accident scenes as a courtesy but they are not responsible for doing so. The department said it was not asked to do that in this case.
But the mayor's office said Thursday the FDNY typically does wash down the street in those situations and that it cleaned the scene the night of the accident, despite evidence of remains still there Wednesday night. A spokeswoman said a fire battalion went back after NBC 4 New York's report aired and washed it down a second time.
-- John Chandler contributed to this report.
