NY Woman Killed By Wind Blown Plywood Ripped From Construction Site

The strong winds that have gusted across the Northeast contributed to a freak accident that killed a pedestrian. The NY Daily News reports that 37-year old Trang-Thuy Nguyen was killed by a flying piece of plywood fence blown from a Manhattan condo construction site on Tuesday. Nguyen was pronounced dead after she was taken to Bellevue Hospital.

The woman was talking on her cellphone as the 4-foot-by-8-foot sheet of plywood, which was torn by the winds from a fence on W. 12th St, hit her and sent her slamming into a wall. An official cause of death was pending an autopsy.

City buildings inspectors were on the scene Wednesday to determine if any code violations led to the loose piece of plywood.

The National Weather Service says that the winds in Manhattan at the time of the accident were gusting up to 38 mph,