Family of man who fell 11 stories in SF speaks out

OAKLAND, Calif. -- A window washer who fell 11 stories from a downtown San Francisco building onto a moving car last month has been moved to a rehabilitation facility where he hopes to walk again.

Pedro Perez, 58, fractured his pelvis, broke an arm, ruptured an artery in his arm, and sustained severe brain trauma when he landed on a Toyota Camry after falling from the top of a bank building in San Francisco's Financial District on Nov. 21. The car's driver was not injured.

Pedro spent a week in a medically induced coma and still can't move his right arm and leg. But just a month after the fall, he has amazed doctors who originally said it would be months before he could leave the hospital, his wife, Marisela Perez said Monday.

Since he isn't working, his family is asking for help to make ends meet during this tough time.

It's been a month since this family's life was turned upside down. He miraculously survived, but was badly injured. Just as surprising is that Perez is now talking and ready to start physical therapy.

The family talked with ABC7 News from the SEIU headquarters in Oakland. "His spirits are good and he's very eager to get up and move," Marisela said.

His family says Pedro doesn't remember the accident.

Union organizer Colin O'Leary said workers compensation would be expected to pay for the cost of Pedro's hospitalization and rehabilitation. But without the man's income, the family needs money to help cover rent, utilities, food and school supplies for their two youngest daughters, ages 11 and 16.

The family says they are going through some tough times. His wife is now working overtime and his oldest daughter Monica dropped out of college to take on more hours as a caregiver. "We need to pay the rent, our utilities, insurance, clothes, groceries and we're just barely scarping by," she said.

The family says they will celebrate Christmas and have dinner at the rehab center with their dad who is eating again. "Yes he can eat, but he asks for food from outside the hospital because hospital food is not very good," she said.

Given what they've gone through, they say they're fine with postponing Christmas.

San Francisco's financial district was bustling at 10 a.m. on the day of the fall and witnesses described hearing the man screaming and seeing a blue streak and his shadow as he fell onto the moving car, crushing its roof and sending shattered glass flying into the street.

Nearly two dozen people ran to Pedro, who was on his back. He was lucid, though he was bleeding.

He worked for Concord-based Century Window Cleaning for 12 years, his wife said.

The family is asking for donations to cover his rehabilitation, rent and other household costs.

If you'd like to help, click here.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.