A New York Times columnist who lives in a luxury Trump condo was tossing trash down the chute when an umbrella shot down from a higher floor and impaled his hand, leaving him permanently disfigured, he claims in a Manhattan lawsuit.
Mark de Silva, who lives on the 17th floor of the Trump Parc on Central Park South, was performing the mundane task on March 25 at around 9:30 p.m. when he “was struck by an umbrella deposited into the garbage shaft from a higher floor,” the suit charges.
“The point entered the top of his hand. It was pretty bloody,” said de Silva’s lawyer, Evan Sarzin.
The umbrella was moving at such a high velocity that it punctured a rubber flap connected to the chute’s entrance.
A philosophy scribe for the Gray Lady’s “Opinionator” section, de Silva is suing the building management and its homeowners association, claiming the chute should have had warning signs about throwing dangerous objects down the shaft.
De Silva, 36, also charges that the chute was poorly constructed, requiring residents “to push garbage into the shaft, thereby exposing it to risk of falling objects.”
Sarzin says the management company has the umbrella and is trying to determine the owner.
The resident of the high-rise, where the average unit sells for $4 million, says he lost time at work because of the accident and is undergoing physical therapy.
Workers at the 38-story building said de Silva was to blame for his injuries.
“Why would you put your hand in the chute?” one maintenance man said. “You open it up, put the garbage in — done! There’s no reason to put your hand all the way in there.”
Trump management declined to comment on the incident.