He declined to make either of the two victims available for comment, citing their lingering trauma from the accident. But Kapil Mokhat, Mansuria's brother-in-law, said he suspected there was something wrong with the structure each time he visited the apartment and climbed the "shaky" stairs.
"I told them: 'You should report it,' " Mokhat recalled. "I guess they never did."
Robert Valente, who bought the two-story building in 2006, said he was unaware there were any problems with the porch, said John Q. Kelly, a New York catastrophic injury lawyer.
"It wasn't unsound," Valente said. "I've been on it. Had I known [the porch was unsafe], this would never be an issue."
