Construction Company Owner Jailed After Bushwick Child Death

BROOKLYN, NY — The owner of a construction company, whose stone wall in Bushwick collapsed and killed a child, will serve six months in prison, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said on Wednesday.

Nadeem Anwar, the owner of City Wide Construction and Renovations, Inc., was convicted of criminally negligent homicide, first-degree offering a false instrument for filing, and second-degree falsifying business records, according to the DA.

This closes the chapter on a tragic incident on August 29, 2019, when 5-year-old Alysson Pinto-Chaumana was with her mother and several friends at 444 Harman Street, a three-story building in Bushwick.

The group was outside on an enclosed patio next to a wall with a base of stone pillars when the pillars fell onto the child, crushing her and killing her on impact, Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said that on further investigation, the City found numerous violations of the New York City Building Code, including the fact that the defendant did not have a permit to build the stone wall, and he didn't have a licensed engineer or architect to evaluate the wall's stability, which is required.

“This defendant’s egregious failure to follow the most basic safety provisions of the New York City Building Code caused the horrific, brutal and completely avoidable death of little Alysson, leaving her devastated mother heartbroken," Gonzalez said.

"Today’s sentence sends a message that there will be serious consequences for contractors whose sloppy work endangers the public."