Poverty Makes People Human

The people in the Tenderloin are friendly, and real. Most are living in poverty, and cannot afford the paraphernalia of wealth.

A TENDERLOIN STORY: THE WINDOW WASHER by Mary Jessup: I live in San Francisco in the Tenderloin neighborhood. The area has an awful reputation, and some people are afraid of the Tenderloin. But when you live in the Tenderloin, you realize its radiance. This little story is about the neighborhood, and the community. It was told to me by the window washer, and so I named the story after him.

A couple of weeks ago the management of my residential building hired a window washer to clean the exterior windows of our building. The man worked all day Saturday and Sunday. He did an excellent job. I was happy to have clean windows. Sunday morning, when exiting the building, I saw the window washer. He was standing on the sidewalk, taking a break. He had all his equipment with him, and I knew it was him. “Hi,” I said, smiling. “Thank you for washing the windows. You did a great job.” He smiled. “Hi,” he said. “Thank you.” “You’re welcome,” I said.

“You people in the Tenderloin talk to me,” he said. “You all talk to me, and say thank you. People here tell me they appreciate my work. They sometimes give me tips. And food.” “Wow! That’s wonderful,” I said. “Yeah,” he said. “I work all over the City. And nobody talks to me. In the Tenderloin people talk to me. They’re friendly.”

That is it. The people in the Tenderloin are friendly, and real. Most are living in poverty, and cannot afford the paraphernalia of wealth. The Tenderloin is not scary. It is real. The people are real, and they’re living a real life. Among the people of the Tenderloin, there is no pretense.

Poverty strips away arrogance, snobbishness, the sense of separation, which we call “us” and “them.” The poverty of the Tenderloin teaches humility. It is true that the Tenderloin is a harsh neighborhood, raw and rough. Life is lived on the streets. Everything is seen. There are no secrets. Experience teaches that life in the Tenderloin is the same as life everywhere else in the City, except everywhere else, life is concealed by facades.

The Tenderloin is San Francisco’s shadow. Every day on the streets, the citizens of the Tenderloin confront the dark side of life, the evil. This is a service performed by the residents of the Tenderloin for the remaining residents of the City. Living life in the shadow is the Tenderloin’s spiritual gift to San Francisco.

Poverty helps people to be truly human, to be authentic. We don’t think about it, we live it. We live our humanity. To be human is to be friendly.

Pedro Perez 11 Story Fall & A Year On

Pedro Perez speaks exclusively to ABC7's Lyanne Melendez about his fall from an 11-story building in San Francisco while he was washing windows.

Exclusive: Window washer who fell 11 stories talks about his life now (San Leandro, Calif.): On November 21, 2014 people in the Bay Area were shocked to hear a window washer, who fell from an 11-story building in San Francisco, survived. The man's name is Pedro Perez. ABC7 News has spoken exclusively to Perez about his astonishing ordeal.

The reaction I get from everyone is it is impossible to survive a fall like that. I've been in contact with the Perez family since the accident. It has been the most trying year of their lives and as you can imagine his recovery has been long and tedious. After more than a year, I finally met the man who was supposed to be dead.

In November 2014 at the corner of California and Montgomery streets, emergency crews rushed to the scene of an accident. At the time a police spokesperson explained, "One individual fell off the window washing apparatus." A witness on that day said, "He's definitely unconscious." Another witness said she took off her jacket and put it over him.

Perez is an experienced window washer who lost his balance and fell from the top of an 11-story building down 120 feet and landed on a moving car. When we spoke to him recently, he said, "I don't remember [anything from] my accident."

That's common with people who suffer serious brain trauma. He remembers waking up in the hospital three days later. He had broken his pelvis, lost all feeling in his right leg, and severed an artery in his right arm, which today he has troubling lifting. He explained he can't lift his arm straight up.

Melendez: "So what do you think happened up there?"

Perez: "I felt very sure of myself. I felt I had a lot of experience."

We saw a demonstration of what Cal/OSHA concluded following its investigation. The lanyard attached to his safety harness was connected to an anchor point, but Perez briefly disconnected that lanyard to position himself on the edge of the roof. He was in the process of moving the extension cord of the suspended scaffold, when he lost his balance.

"Many times when I was up there, I would think if I ever fell, I'd be nothing but broken pieces," Perez said.

A passing Toyota Camry helped break his fall. Perez would not have survived had the car gone by there a split second later. "Nobody survives a fall from that high up," Perez said.

Melendez: "Have you seen the car, a picture of the car?"

Perez: "Just a little bit, but not for long because I don't want to see it and I don't want to remember nothing about that."

The driver, Mohammad Alcozai of Dublin, had his share of luck that day. It would have been a different outcome had Perez landed on his windshield. Because the accident still haunts him, he refuses to drive into Downtown San Francisco. He told ABC7 News, "Especially, when I was making left turns, so I was always thinking something is going to fall or something is going to hit me." The two have never met, but Alcozai was glad to know that Perez was slowly recovering.

Still, something as easy as putting on a pair of socks is a struggle. He thinks he's improving more each day. Perez is 59 years old and spends many hours a week doing physical therapy to relearn how to walk and strengthen his body. He's never going back to being a window washer; his family won't let him.

Melendez: "Some people think, 'Wow, I got a second chance. Now I'm going to do this...' So finish the sentence for me."

Perez: "I want to help other people. Thank God I'm alive and if I live a year or two, that's extra time."

The company Perez worked for, Century Window Washing of Concord, was cited for a number of violations including not having fall protection equipment. They were fined more than $12,000. All the medical bills have been paid for by worker's comp, but of course, the family doesn't have that extra income. Still, he is so thankful to be alive.

Also see:

Breaking - Window Washer Falls 11 Stories In San Francisco

Theory On How Window Cleaner Survived

Employer Fined $12,000 In Window Washer’s Fall

Pedro Perez Still Critical After SF Fall

Opening Our Hearts & Wallets

Pedro Perez Rehabilitation

People Donate Thousands For Pedro Perez

Employer Fined $12,000 In Window Washer’s Fall

A 2002 Toyota Camry is crushed after Pedro Perez, a window washer fell 11 stories onto its roof at Montgomery and California streets in San Francisco last November.

In total, there were five citations with proposed penalties of $12,765 issued in this case: three general, one serious and one serious accident related citations. 

A general violation is cited when an accident or illness resulting from the violation of a standard would probably not cause death or serious harm, but would have a direct effect on the health of employees. In contrast, a serious violation is cited when there is a realistic possibility that death or serious physical harm could result from the violation.

In 2008, Cal/OSHA cited Century Window Cleaning $2,720 for four violations, one of which was serious, following a complaint-based investigation.

An investigator take photos of a cable that allegedly snapped, causing a window washer to fall 11 stories onto a moving car at Montgomery and California streets in San Francisco, Calif.

Employer fined $12,000 in window washer’s 11-story fall: The company who employed a window washer who miraculously survived an 11-story fall from a San Francisco office building last year was hit with five citations and more than $12,000 in fines for violations related to the accident, officials announced Wednesday.

Century Window Washing of Concord was cited for “failure to secure the roof with fall protection equipment and inadequate training on the proper use of the victim’s personal fall protection equipment,” officials wrote in a statement, both serious violations of workplace safety regulations.

Pedro Perez, 58, was moving an extension cord around the corner of the building at 400 Montgomery St. around 10 a.m. Nov. 21 when he disconnected the lanyard on his fall protection equipment from an anchor point as he moved toward the edge of the roof. Perez lost his balance and tumbled over the edge, falling roughly 130 feet before landing on the roof of a passing Toyota Camry on the street below.

“At first all I saw was, out of the corner of my eye, a blue streak falling,” said retired Army Col. Sam Hartwell, a banker who witnessed the fall. “Then I heard that loud crash, the shattering glass and a thud. It wasn’t until the man rolled over onto the pavement and landed on his back that I realized it was a person.”

Passersby rushed to his aid, and he was taken to San Francisco General Hospital, where doctors diagnosed him with serious brain trauma, a shattered pelvis and a broken arm. The driver of the car, Mohammad Alcozai of Dublin, got out almost immediately after the impact. The victim hit the roof and back window of the 2002 four-door Camry, totaling the car. A split-second difference in timing and the worker might have landed on the windshield, with potentially terrible consequences for Alcozai.

“It was a miracle,” Alcozai told The Chronicle the day of the accident. “While it is miraculous that this man survived a fall from this height, his fall is an essential reminder that employers are required to provide protections from the hazards of high elevation work,” said Christine Baker, director of the Department of Industrial Relations, a Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or Cal/OSHA.

Of the five violations Century Window Cleaning was cited for — with fines totaling $12,765 — three were general and two were considered serious, according to Cal/OSHA. The company was cited by regulators once before in 2008 for four violations totaling $2,270 in a complaint-based investigation.

A woman who answered the phone at the company said they would not be commenting on the citations, which can be appealed.

In the days after the accident, Perez’s wife Maricela said, “It was surgery after surgery. The doctors induced a coma because the suffering was so great. Truly, it is a miracle that he is still alive.” When he finally woke up, Perez wasn’t able to speak, his family said. He didn’t remember the fall, nor could he recognize familiar faces. Because he was unable to work, Maricela was forced to work extra hours and his 19-year-old daughter, Monica, stopped going to school so she could pick up an extra job.

The family set up a GoFundMe site and — through more than 1,200 individual donations — was able to raise more than $80,000, more than quadrupling their original goal of $20,000. “Thanks to all the donations we have gotten in these past days, it will be possible not only for me to go back to school in the summer,” Monica Perez wrote on the fundraising page around New Year’s. “But it also gives my father a piece of mind to know that we won’t have to struggle any longer with the bills.” A union representative who has been in contact with the family said they would not be making any statements to the media.

A Redwood City window washing company was hit with $12,765 in penalties Wednesday for five safety hazards that led to a worker plummeting 11 stories in San Francisco’s Financial District late last year, according to the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health. Cal/OSHA announced its investigation into Century Window Cleaning ended with five citations, including two serious citations, along with the proposed penalty. Century has the opportunity to appeal the citations.

Cal/OSHA found the company had failed to secure the roof with fall protection equipment and provided inadequate training for using the equipment. It’s not the first time the company was cited. Complaints against the company led to penalties of $2,720 for violations in 2008, according to Cal/OSHA. “While it is miraculous that this man survived a fall from this height, his fall is an essential reminder that employers are required to provide protections from the hazards of high elevation work,” state Department of Industrial Relations Director Christine Baker said in a statement.

Window Washing Is A Dirty Business

Window washers clean glass on the 23-story One South Market building under construction in downtown San Jose on Feb. 3, 2015.

Window washing is a dirty business, but somebody's got to do it (by Bruce Newman): As a design feature for large public buildings, the window has experienced a long, humbling decline. Preening architects transformed the urban skyline into a high-rise hall of mirrors, while windows that once breathed light became rare as gargoyles. But through all the changes, window cleaners - who now scour entire glass buildings armed with only squeegees and buckets of soapy water have remained indispensable.

The dangers inherent in a job that sometimes requires working hundreds of feet off the ground for hours at a time became painfully apparent during a 10-day stretch in November. First, a pair of window cleaners working 69 stories above the street outside New York's new World Trade Center found themselves suspended for an hour from a scaffold that had tilted to nearly vertical, before firefighters cut through the glass and reeled the men in.

The following week in San Francisco, a workman who had not yet begun cleaning windows at the Sterling Bank and Trust Building plummeted from the roof, screaming as he fell 11 stories, before landing on a moving car. That saved his life, although the still unnamed window cleaner has endured numerous surgeries since the accident.

Thirty years ago, when Andy Shavalia, owner of Superior Window Cleaning in Santa Clara, was learning the business, the sort of safety equipment that almost surely saved the lives of the window cleaners in New York was rarely used. Instead of the motorized scaffold-like devices that are used today, called a "swing stage," window washers were lowered from the tops of skyscrapers on a small chair tied to pipes or air conditioning units. "That's like rappelling down the side of a building," Shavalia says. "I would say rope work is probably the hairiest situation you can be in when you first learn the trade."

Shavalia has cleaned the 40-story McKesson tower in San Francisco and the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose - jobs that can take a month or more. The work is slow and methodical, and often the only thing that breaks the tedium is the occasional surprise encounter. Shavalia has come across couples in the full flower of connubiality. "Especially on hotels," he says, "we've had a couple of incidents where maybe the management forgot to tell their guests that if they want privacy to close the curtains. They tried to cover up. You just turn away and continue with your job."

Most window cleaning companies do a mixture of commercial and residential work, although not all of them ascend to great heights. Tim Zickuhr's R12 Window Cleaning in San Jose is only insured to go three stories high, after which the cost of his coverage would quadruple. "How they figure that there's more danger at four stories than three stories is beyond me," says Zickuhr, who uses an 85-foot articulating boom to reach the glass at the top of triple-decker office buildings.

Unlike most homeowners, who tend to use spray products such as Windex to clean their glass, the pros typically use Dawn dishwashing soap and water, which they slop on with a mop, then remove in a long coiling motion with a squeegee. This is known as "snaking" the window, and Shavalia says the technique can take as much as a month to learn to do without leaving any streaks. Zickuhr uses a 45-foot telescoping pole that hooks to a water de-ionizer that filters out San Jose's notoriously hard water. Windows dry spot free.

Zickuhr has "window washer" among his Google search terms, but he disdains the term. "When you've been doing windows as long as we have, there's an art to it," he says. "It's not just a matter of washing a window. You wash your clothes, you wash your car, you don't wash windows. You clean them. If I come in and clean your house, and I miss some dust, chances are you're not going to notice it. But if I miss a spot on the picture window that you sit next to every morning to have your coffee, you're going to say I didn't do a very good job. The art of window cleaning is having an eye for detail and being very meticulous."

The window cleaning industry used to be quiet, or would switch to gutter cleaning during winter months. But when taggers began etching graffiti onto the windows of ground floor stores and restaurants about three years ago, polishing out the etched messages created a booming new business. Billy Berk's bar and restaurant, on the corner of First and San Fernando Streets in downtown San Jose, has suffered vandalized picture windows several times. Nick Ramezani, who has owned the place for two years, estimates he has gone through seven replacements, costing a total of $1,600. "It's really expensive," says Ramezani, looking at several panels of defaced glass. "To be honest with you, I've just given up. As soon as you put on a new one, they start writing on it."

Along a block of mostly abandoned storefronts on the east side of Second Street between Santa Clara and San Fernando streets, at least 48 separate panes of glass have been defaced with gang glyphs and other etchings. The supplies for a three-step polishing process that can remove the disfiguring marks costs Zickuhr $3,500 to repair 600 square feet. "It's a good business to be in," he says. "Silicon Valley has a lot of people in tech, and they don't have enough blue-collar people who are willing to come out, get dirty and make everything real shiny for them."

Opening Our Hearts & Wallets

Pedro Perez, the window washer who survived after falling 11 stories and onto the roof of a car in San Francisco has been moved to a rehab facility.

SF Window Washer Who Survived Falling 11 Stories Touched By Outpour of Support, Donations: A window washer who survived after falling 11 stories and onto the roof of a car in San Francisco has been moved to a rehab facility. Pedro Perez continues to recover from injuries suffered during the late November fall. He is also learning that strangers have opened their hearts and wallets to help his family pay the bills. "He started crying because he couldn't understand how much people had helped and how much actually cared," said Monica Perez, his daughter. "It touched his heart that he is not going to have to worry about us as much as he thought."

The family had been living on workers comp, and hoped to raise $20,000 through a fund raising site to offset living expenses. So far, donations have topped $78,000 -- and many come with touching messages from donors who have never met Pedro Perez. Monica Perez said her father is doing better and is eager to follow his therapy. She added that her father does not remember the accident.

"We are lucky to still have him," she said.

Hello this is Monica Perez the daughter of Pedro Perez, I just wanted to thank everyone from the bottom of our hearts on behalf of my father and my family and thank everyone for all their support their generosity and loving comments for the family it means a lot to us to know that were not alone and that people are willing to give us what little they may have just to help us in this time of need. The outcome of the fundraiser has surpassed anything we could have hoped for thanks to all the donations we have gotten in these past days. It will be possible not only for me to go back to school in the summer but it also gives my father a piece of mind to know that we wont have to struggle any longer with the bills and that we are going to be okay. This will also help him concentrate more on his rehab' so he doesn't try to rush things just to try to get back to work. We hope that soon, we will have our father back home with his family where he belongs. Once again, I want to thank everyone for helping us through this difficult time and making the holiday season a more pleasant one than we had anticipated - MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEARS TO EVERYONE  - Perez Family.

Perez suffered "extensive brain trauma," fractured his pelvis, broke his arm and ruptured an artery in his right arm. Perez cannot walk, and it's unclear if he'll ever be able to. Still, Perez's memory is coming back, his wife said, and he started calling his family members by name recently. "He has improved a lot," she said. Alfredo Fletes, a spokesman for the Services Employees International Union-United Service Workers West, added that Perez is "recovering quickly," faster than doctors first thought.

If you would like to donate for another window cleaner in distress - please consider this man!

People Donate Thousands For Pedro Perez

Maricela Perez, center, wife of Pedro Perez, a San Leandro man who fell from an 11-story building in San Francisco while window washing, speaks about her husband's recovery with her daughter Gaby Perez, 11, left, and Colin O'Leary, right, a Service Employees International Union organizer, at the SEIU United Service Workers West office in Oakland, Calif.

Window washer who fell 130 feet in S.F. 'wants to get up and run’ - Daniela Perez says her father, Pedro, is a stubborn man. The 58-year-old San Leandro window washer is stubborn about working hard. He is stubborn about passing down his values to his three daughters. And now, he is stubbornly fighting back after suffering extensive brain trauma, a shattered pelvis and a broken arm when he plummeted 11 stories from the roof of a building in San Francisco — and somehow survived.

“He is fighting,” Daniela, 16, said Monday. “He wants to get up already. He wants to get up and run.” It’s going to be awhile, though, before Perez can run — or even walk. He’s been slowly recovering at San Francisco General Hospital since the Nov. 21 accident, when he plunged from the top of 400 Montgomery St. during a job that went wrong. He was hurtling toward the asphalt below when, in an unusual piece of good fortune, he crashed into and crumpled the roof of a passing Toyota Camry.

Perez’s family is now reluctantly asking for help from the public as he embarks on a long recovery. His wife, 37-year-old Maricela, and three daughters — Daniela, 11-year-old Gaby and Monica, 19 — started a crowdfunding site to raise money. Perez, who has worked as a window washer for 15 years, has insurance through work to cover his medical bills and is getting workers’ compensation checks.

But without his full income, the family members said, they are scraping by. Maricela has been working extra hours at a plastic factory, while Monica quit school to take another job. “It’s not easy to be asking for help,” Maricela said through a translator at a news conference Monday in Oakland. Her husband, she said, “was the one helping to make ends meet. We need him a lot. He is our backup.”

A lone shoe of window washer, Pedro Perez who fell 11 stories onto a moving car sits in the gutter of Montgomery and California streets in San Francisco.

When Maricela first learned of the accident, she was told by a relative that her husband had died. It wasn’t until after she had frantically picked up her daughters from school that she learned through authorities he was alive — barely. Along with the brain trauma and broken bones, Perez was hemorrhaging internally from a ruptured artery in his right arm. Maricela Perez also didn’t know the incredible circumstances of the fall. It was around 10 a.m., amid the bustling crowds of the city’s Financial District, when Perez fell 130 feet into Mohammad Alcozai’s 2002 Camry.

Witnesses stepped in to help — calling 911, stopping traffic and urging Perez to hold on — and paramedics were at the scene within minutes, stabilizing Perez and rushing him to a hospital. “I think God wanted me to be there just at the moment that poor man fell,” said Alcozai, a traveling tech specialist from Dublin, who had slowed down and then sped up after his car’s navigation system shut down momentarily. “It was a miracle that he was able to fall in my car, and it was a miracle that I was OK.”

The driver of a 2002 Toyota Camry that was crushed after a window washer fell 11 stories onto its roof talks on the phone.

In the days after the accident, Maricela Perez said, “It was surgery after surgery. The doctors induced a coma because the suffering was so great. Truly, it is a miracle that he is still alive.” When he finally woke up, Perez wasn’t able to speak, his family said. He didn’t remember the fall, nor could he recognize familiar faces. But in the past few weeks, he has improved.

He’s now calling his relatives by name and is out of the hospital’s intensive care unit. Soon he will be moved to a rehabilitation center in Pleasanton, where he will work to regain use of his right side, Maricela said. “At first, it was hard to see him and not be able to ask if he’s OK,” Daniela said. “Now he’s talking. He can tell us what hurts. Before we couldn’t help him. We felt helpless.”

An investigator takes photos of window scaffolding platform after window washer, Pedro Perez fell 11 stories onto a moving car at Montgomery and California streets in San Francisco.

California workplace safety regulators are still looking into what caused Perez’s fall, and said Monday that they could not release details about the case until the investigation is complete. Century Window Cleaning of Concord, the firm doing the job, has not commented. “We have up to six months to complete the investigation,” said Peter Melton, a Cal/OSHA spokesman. “Typically, they are not finished within a month.”

Perez’s loved ones said they will spend Christmas at the hospital. They said he is eager to get back to work, but that his days of washing windows are behind him. “It’s hard not having my dad at home, especially with Christmas and my birthday coming up,” said Daniela, who turns 17 next month. “I hope he gets better, and he gets to come home. I want to be able to celebrate with him.”

Pedro Perez has had several surgeries for the injuries he received when he landed atop a car in the city's financial district Nov. 21 after plummeting 130 feet from the top of the Sterling Bank and Trust. He suffered extensive brain trauma, severely damaged his right arm and fractured his pelvis, and it's not clear whether he'll walk again. Maricela Perez through a translator said “They are saying it’s a miracle.”

Pedro Perez Rehabilitation

On November 21, 2014 San Francisco high rise window cleaner Pedro Perez fell from the top of an 11 story building at the corner of California and Montgomery Streets in San Francisco.

Family Of San Francisco Window Washer Who Survived 11-Story Fall Asking For Donations To Cover Hospital Bills: A donation fund has been started for the San Francisco window cleaner who survived an 11-story fall last month. The family of 50-year-old Pedro Perez has asked for donations to help pay for his recovery costs and mounting family bills after he fell about 130 feet while washing the windows of 400 Montgomery Street on November 21st.

“Our dad’s life is the best gift we could’ve received this holiday season,” says his 19-year old daughter, Monica Perez. “But our family just lost its main breadwinner, and we need help staying above water as we navigate a difficult recovery process.” Perez suffered internal bleeding as well as a broken arm and fractured pelvis, according to his daughter. In a televised interview, she said he is off a breathing machine and he is talking. His family is expected to give an update on his condition in Oakland on Monday. Donations for his rehabilitation fund will be accepted online here.

Damage left on a Toyota Camry after window washer, Pedro Perez fell from above California St. in San Francisco.

Pedro Perez Rehabilitation Fund: On November 21, 2014 San Francisco high rise window cleaner Pedro Perez fell from the top of an 11 story building at the corner of California and Montgomery Streets in San Francisco. Miraculously, by the grace of God, the power of life or what one chooses to believe, Pedro survived the fall by landing on the back of a moving car. He was gravely injured, however, suffering extensive brain trauma , fracturing his pelvis, breaking his arm, rupturing an artery in his right arm, and deeply hemorrhaging internally. 

Pedro’s recovery has begun, and despite the sheer miracle that he has begun conversing with others and that the strength of his memory is returning, his road to recovery will be a long and arduous one. Pedro, age 58, is unable to work and support his family and it is unclear when or how he will even be able to walk again. Yet he was the principle bread winner of his family in the ever-increasingly expensive Bay Area. His wife works a night job at a factory in the East Bay and his eldest daughter, 19, has quit her college studies in order to support the family. His other daughters, ages 16 and 11 cannot and should not be expected do the same. 

The Perez family is in urgent need of financial assistance during his recovery. It is unknown whether he will be able to return to work at all, and though it is a miracle that this would even be a prospect, it will be a long time until the future is certain. Pedro and his family are asking for donations so that they can weather this difficult period amongst ever increasing expenses and ever increasing uncertainty so that a brighter future for the entire Perez family can be created from this very dark and difficult situation.

Pedro Perez Still Critical After SF Fall

A pair of San Francisco police officers look over the scene where Pedro Perez fell 11 stories onto a moving car.

Window Washer's family speaks to ABC7 news after fall (San Leandro, California) : - ABC7 News followed up on the condition of the window washer who fell on a car from an 11-story building in San Francisco. It happened nearly two weeks ago and he is still in critical condition at San Francisco General Hospital, but talking. His 19-year-old daughter, Monica Perez spoke only to ABC7 News.

The window washer is 58-year-old Pedro Perez and he is still in the intensive care unit at the hospital. His family said they see him improving a little every day and they too are amazed that he survived that fall. The San Leandro resident had 15 years under his belt as a window washer. That's why his family doesn't know how he managed to fall from the roof of a building on Montgomery Street, landing on a moving car. "He knows how equipment has to be set up. He knows how one little thing not being set up right, can cause an accident," Monica said.

After the fall, Perez (pictured) was helped by several pedestrians. Minutes later, a confused co-worker who mistakenly thought Perez was dead called the family to say he had passed. For about an hour the family didn't know he was alive. Monica said they didn't know "until the hospital called us and told us he was alive." The moving car he landed on helped break his fall. Since the November 21 Street accident, Perez had several operations. "He fractured his pelvic area, so it's completely shattered, and then had had internal bleeding," Monica said.

While Perez broke his right arm in several places, he legs and back were not broken. And according to the family, he suffered no major head injury. "He's not on the breathing machine anymore. He can breathe on his own. He's talking," Monica said.

The family reached out to ABC7 News because they need help. While his has medical insurance, his union, SEIU United Service Workers West, had not contacted the family directly, until Wednesday when we called the union. During our interview a union representative called to offer help. "We're probably going to put him on disability. It's in progress," Monica to the representative.

Perez has a wife and three daughters. The family remembers watching the accident on TV, in disbelief. "It's a really big fall. How does one fall from that survive and survive?" Monica said. People who witnessed the fall are still asking themselves the same question.

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.

San Francisco Window Washing Rig Secured

Eventually a window washer rappelled down and secured the platform, while firefighters helped pull it up.

Window-washing rig secured to San Francisco high-rise: Suspended on the face of a Financial District high rise, a window washer's rig dangled precariously from One Embarcadero high above San Francisco on Friday morning. The dangling window washing rig's dangerous dilemma developed right in the middle of the morning rush hour in downtown San Francisco, shutting down a major street. The rig was reported hanging unsafely at 7:02 a.m. from the 41st floor of a building at 301 Clay Street. Getting things straightened out had a whole new meaning Friday morning in the Financial District. The window washing platform was finally pulled over onto the top of the building at about 10 a.m., ending a strange morning on Friday the 13th.

It just didn't look right, whether you were down below on Clay and Battery streets or 41 stories up at One Embarcadero Center. A 2,000 pound window washing platform was dangling dangerously from above. "I talked to the guy, actually the engineer who was in charge of it and asked him, 'is this thing in danger of falling?'" Battalion Chief Marty Ross said. "And the look on his face, I could just tell, hey we better get up there."

But there were a lot of frazzled nerves on Friday the 13th.

Firefighters believe a latch was not engaged when workers put it over the side of the building. No one was inside the rig. Below, Battery Street between Clay and Sacramento was blocked off to traffic. Muni officials say buses on the 1-California and 41-Union routes are being rerouted around the scene.
Floors 28, 29, and 30 were in the landing zone if this thing dropped. So those workers were kept out of the building. "Just wait, and hopefully it comes to a good end," 29th floor worker Rita Whitten said.

Eventually a window washer rappelled down and secured the platform, while firefighters helped pull it up. No one hurt. But there were a lot of frazzled nerves on Friday the 13th. "That is a little creepy, a little scary," San Francisco resident Marcus Collazo said. "You've got to think about it, you know, let your mind run wild." The roads and One Embarcadero Center have reopened. Firefighters say they're just happy nothing bad happened. Social media reaction here.

Naked man, dangling scaffolding cause stir downtown (caution: nudity) - There was plenty to talk about near the Embarcadero on Friday. After a window-washing rig lost a cable and hung precariously from the 41st floor of the Embarcadero Center, a man in various states of undress climbed a light post, became an apparent safety threat and refused to come down — for nearly four hours. This post features nudity, so scroll down past this scaffolding picture if you’re OK with that. A police officer, who was likely helping reroute traffic after the scaffolding slipped Friday morning, noticed the shirtless fellow perched on a pole at Drumm and Sacramento streets about 10 a.m. The officer called for back-up, police closed off the street and a tactical team arrived to get the man down.

“That’s normal procedure,” said Officer Wilson Ng. “We didn’t want him to fall on anyone.” Despite hours of coaxing by a crisis negotiator, the man remained on the pole, continued to remove his clothes — until he was naked — and drew a crowd of onlookers. Many of the spectators had just watched the fire department lasso the loose window-washing rig on Embarcadero Center One, which was reported just before 7 a.m. and also prompted police to close streets in the area. The excitement ended at about 1:45 p.m. when an officer, according to police reports, grabbed the man on the pole, took him into custody and, presumably, covered his scaffolding.

Despite hours of coaxing by a crisis negotiator, the man remained on the pole, continued to remove his clothes — until he was naked — and drew a crowd of onlookers.

An Equipment Failure & New Window Cleaning Record?

George Lynn is going for a Guinness world record for cleaning windows.

Window record open: Most 63-year-olds with rheumatoid arthritis would be more than happy to put their feet up and relax in their retirement days. George Lynn, however, is not your average 63-year-old.

The Mirrabooka pensioner has now travelled across Australia four times in an effort to establish a Guinness world record for the most windows washed in a year. The window-washing bug first bit him in 1988, when he stopped over in Abu Dhabi with no local currency. “I was in the airport with no local currency, and I found a café owner that spoke English, and I asked him if he could make me a cup of tea if I washed his windows,” he said. “He told me he’d make me a cup of tea and also give me five dollars – and I’ve been washing windows ever since.”

Despite his severe arthritis, George is aiming to wash one million windows between Australia Day 2012 and Australia Day 2013. “I’ve already done 4000 windows so far, so I am going to have a decent crack at it,” he said. “In four attempts I’ve not managed to get upwards of one million – but I’m hoping my luck will change this year. “I’ve got all the documentation I need, I just need to get the windows done.”

George charges $2 per window, with one third going to the RFDS, one third going to the Cancer Council and one third to himself. “I can assure you I’m not making a quid out of it. It’s just enough to support my pension and keep me washing windows.”

Crane malfunctioned atop San Francisco high rise: A crane accident happened in the Financial District Sunday around 2:30 p.m. A crane came loose dangled off a high rise at the corner of California and Kearny streets. About five tons of mechanical equipment inside a container dangled off the side of the Bank of America building, near the top, right over Kearney Street. Workers told ABC7 they were installing new window washing gear on the roof of the Bank of America building and have been doing it for the past three days, but they said the load that got stuck was the heaviest load they've lifted so far. The weight proved to be too much for the crane. The container weighs 11,000 pounds and it was dangling over 500 feet in the air. "It contains two spools of wire weighing about 11,000 pounds and the winch snapped, so now the only way they can get it up there is they're going to have to hand crank it. It's about 100 feet they have to bring it up. It's going to take about 3-3.5 hours. There's no danger right now. We've got everything locked down, we've got traffic and pedestrians out of the area. We've got officers at all the corners to make sure that nobody gets in there," said San Francisco Police Sgt. Joe Fisher. There were two men cranking the container up and around 6 p.m. they were moving it at a rate of 20 feet in an hour. This caused traffic jams all over the area and Chinatown.