A man paying his respects at a grave in a Brooklyn cemetery was hurt Sunday — when the tombstone suddenly toppled over on him, witnesses said.
The man was with several other family members at the Holy Cross Cemetery in East Flatbush at around 2 p.m. when he apparently leaned too hard on the large red headstone, causing it to fall over onto his leg, trapping him.
“He must not have realized how hard he was leaning on the stone because it toppled over and knocked him down,” said Syed Ali, 83, a security guard at the cemetery who witnessed the incident.
Ali said he and other workers called 911 after they and the man’s relatives were unable to lift the stone, which weighs several hundred pounds.
An ambulance soon arrived, and the emergency workers freed the man, put him on a stretcher and took him to a local hospital. He was conscious and talking, Ali said.
“I really don’t know how badly he was hurt,” Ali said. “But if something that big falls on you, it’s going to do some damage.”