Man Trapped In Collapse At Building Owned By Brooklyn Mega-Church

PROSPECT-LEFFERTS GARDENS, BROOKLYN — A man was trapped under mounds of debris when a mega-church-owned building, with several outstanding violations, collapsed, according to officials and city records.

The ceiling caved in at 463 Rutland Road — which belongs to the Church of God of Prophesy, an Evangelical church with more than 1.5 million members — at about 12:30 p.m., according to an FDNY spokeswoman and Department of Building records.

It took sixty firefighters more than an hour to free the man, who had been scavanging inside the site, and was rushed to Kings County Hospital in serious condition, said FDNY.

Owners have accrued 19 open violations which include a citation for failing to maintain the building after a partial collapse on Nov. 11, according to Department of Buildings records.

DOB later issued an emergency order calling for the owners to "fully demolish" the building on Feb. 12 and another violation Monday when inspectors found construction work happening without a permit, city records show.

The Church of God of Prophecy, a 10,000-church institution that owns the building and the church next door, says its mission is to "plant churches and equip leaders to carry out the biblical mandate to make genuine disciples of all the peoples of the world."

A church spokesperson was not immediately available to comment.

Photos courtesy of FDNY/Twitter