He says he called for help – and the city gave him the finger, or rather cost him one.
A Putnam County plumber is suing the city, FDNY and EMS for never responding to his 911 call in a construction mishap that cost him his pinky finger.
Anthony Delgaudio, 43, was working on air conditioning units at the Beekman Theater on Second Avenue and E. 66th this past July when he slipped on construction debris and severed his left pinky.
“The belts on the AC weren’t covered like they should be,” Delgaudio, who works for Evergreen Mechanical based in the Bronx, said in an interview with the Post.
“I braced my hands for the fall and went into the belt. I looked down and saw blood everywhere and my finger on the floor,” the veteran plumber recalled.
The Manhattan Supreme Court suit says police called 911 on his behalf “multiple” times, but help never arrived because dispatchers had confused the call with an earlier report over another injured finger and thought it was the same caller.
Cops first contacted emergency responders from 1271 Second Avenue just five minutes after a different person rang 911 from 2371 Second Avenue in Harlem.
Delguadio’s suit says the responders were “reckless, careless and grossly negligent” for “failing to timely and adequately respond to the afore-mentioned 911 calls.”
The Post reported exclusively at the time of the incident that there were multiple calls inquiring about the ambulance and asking for an estimated wait time.
Delguadio’s attorney, John Decolator, said his client waited 40 minutes for an ambulance at which point the cops gave up and drove him to New York Presbyterian.
But when Delguadio finally got to the emergency room it was too late for doctors to reattach his pinky, even though it had been kept on ice.
“My finger was lost, my hand was crushed, my circulation was shot. I still can’t make a fist,” the married father of two girls said.
“I was told by the [worker’s] compensation doctor who saw me I could go back to work and use one hand,” Delguadio said.
“How do I use my hand? Being a plumber you need two hands for everything.”
He’s suing for an unspecified amount.
The city’s Law Department hasn’t received the legal papers, but promised to “evaluate the case carefully upon service.”