Theory On How Window Cleaner Survived

There is no simple answer to how a window washer can fall 11 stories and live.

Miracle Or Just Science? Physicist Explains Why SF Window-Washer Survived 11-Story Fall (San Francisco ) — A window washer who fell 11 stories from the rooftop in San Francisco’s Financial District Friday and landed on a moving car remains in critical condition at San Francisco General Hospital. Onlookers, and even the driver of the car he landed on were astonished to find the victim landed on the ground, injured, but still alive. While it may seem like a miracle, the window washer’s survival is grounded in the laws of physics.

Physics professor and senior scientist at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, Dr. Paul Doherty, said because of all the factors involved there is no simple answer to how a window washer can fall 11 stories and live. But, he said the car was crucial in minimizing the force of the impact, by spreading it out over time. “You would have to spread out that impact over time, and the best way to do that is to hit something that crumples under you.”

Doherty said Hollywood stuntmen in movies do this all the time. “They have a pile of boxes, or air-filled mattresses and they fall off the roof, and those boxes, or crumpling material, crumple 3 feet or more when they hit.” He said the same factors played a role with the window washer, because the car minimized the impact by spreading. “I looked at the images of the roof of this car. He hit the roof and it crumpled quite a ways… more than a foot of crumpling,” said Doherty. “That’s enough to really spread out that impact. Essentially, the car suffered, and he suffered less, because the car crumpled under him.”

Doherty also compares it to a vehicle airbag, which goes off and collapses under the body’s impact, more gently spreading the force of the impact on the body instead of the driver hitting the dashboard at 60 mph. “There are people who have fallen from airplanes in WWII, 10,000 feet and cratered into the soft snow,” said Doherty. “They found themselves at the bottom of a 3 foot crater, and got up and walked away.” The rear-end of the car the window washer fell on was destroyed, but the driver, identified as Mohammad Alcozai, was not hurt.

Bay Area Company Who Employed Window Washer That Survived 11-Story Drop Has Good Safety Record: A window washer who survived an 11-story fall from a building in San Francisco’s Financial District Friday morning worked for an East Bay window washing company that had not received a citation in years. The company, Century Window Cleaning of Concord has a fairly good safety record, but received several citations in 2008. Century Window Cleaning was fined more than $6,000 for violations involving the training of personnel and the use of equipment. 

According to witnesses, the window washer and a co-worker were on the roof of the Sterling Bank & Trust building at California and Montgomery around 10 a.m. Friday morning. The pair was adjusting cables from the roof for their working platform on the ground. When something went awry, the window washer fell 11 stories onto a moving car. The washer survived the impact and was taken to the hospital with critical injuries. The driver of the car was not injured.

Breaking - Window Washer Falls 11 Stories In San Francisco

The roof of a car on California Street in downtown San Francisco where a window washer reportedly fell 11 stories onto a moving car.

Window Washer Falls 11 Stories in San Francisco: A window washer fell about 11 stories from the top of Sterling Bank on Friday in San Francisco and landed on a car before being taken to the hospital. San Francisco firefighters said the call came in about 10 a.m. from a building at Montgomery and California streets. The worker was breathing before being transported to the hospital. People nearby began taking photos of the scene. One image taken by RadioPadrac showed a green car with broken windows and a damaged roof, apparently from the worker's fall.

Click to enlarge.

Man falls eight stories onto car in Financial District (SAN FRANCISCO): A man tumbled eight stories from a San Francisco Financial District high-rise early Friday, suffering serious injuries when he slammed into a car traveling down Montgomery Street, authorities said. San Francisco police spokesman Albie Esparza said a 911 call came in at about 10 a.m. reporting a man had fallen onto a moving car near the intersection of California and Montgomery.

An eyewitness – Chuck Reynolds – tweeted that the man had on what appeared to be a window-washer's harness. “When I got closer he was a window washer w/ harness, still breathing,” he tweeted. “Car broke his fall.” Esparza said the man survived the initial fall onto the Toyota Camry, but he did not know the extent of his injuries. Firefighters said the man had been taken to the hospital with serious injuries. There was no immediate on the condition of anyone inside the Toyota sedan.

So a window washer just fell off a building and landed on this car outside my work.

Worker plunges from downtown San Francisco building: A worker plunged from a building in downtown San Francisco Friday morning, landing on the the roof a car, authorities said. The incident was reported at 10:03 a.m. at California and Montgomery streets, said Dan Dunnigan, a spokesman for the city fire department. He said firefighters arrived at 10:08 a.m. and that the worker was taken, conscious but with life-threatening injuries, to San Francisco General Hospital. Photographs taken by witnesses showed a Toyota Camry with its roof badly smashed. Dunnigan said the worker fell from a roof or scaffolding in what appeared to be an accident. KTVU-TV reported that the worker was a window-washer who fell 11 stories onto a car that was moving.

The window washer fell onto a moving car from the roof of an 11 story building. The driver of the car is reportedly OK.

Man falls 11 stories onto car in Financial District (SAN FRANCISCO) - A window washer tumbled 11 stories from the roof of a building in San Francisco's Financial District early Friday, suffering critical injuries as he slammed into a car as it traveled down Montgomery Street, authorities said. San Francisco police Lt. Ed Del Carlo said the man was setting up window washing equipment on the top of a building located at 400 Montgomery Street when something went wrong. He fell onto a green Toyota Camry, crushing its roof and then bounced onto the street.

An eyewitness – Chuck Reynolds – tweeted that the man still had on his window-washer's harness. “When I got closer he was a window washer with harness, still breathing,” he tweeted. “Car broke his fall.” Bianca Bahman, 31, a pre-med student at San Francisco State University, was walking to the gym saw the man's shadow as he was falling and then saw him land on a Toyota Camry approaching the intersection.

The car's roof caved in and there was blood everywhere, Bahman said. She ran to the man to see if he was OK and said there was blood coming from his ears and he was gasping for breath as he rolled off the car onto the ground.

A coworker remained on the roof and Bahman said she could hear him screaming. Del Carlo said the man appeared to have a compound fracture of his arm among other injuries. “He was conscious,” Del Carlo said of the man. “He had critical injuries.” The Toyota driver was shaken, but appeared not to have suffered any other injuries.