Man Killed in Bow Street Porch Collapse

This article was updated on Wednesday at 6:11 p.m. with a corrected age and the victim's name, previously withheld until family could be notified.

A 76-year-old Bow Street man died on Wednesday afternoon when the back porch he was working on collapsed, pinning him underneath.

Hallmark Health spokeswoman Jesse Kawa said that George Carroll was transported to and pronounced dead in the emergency department.

Capt. Ed Collina said that Carroll was shoring up the porch attached to the rear of 21 Bow St. and for "whatever reason, the deck pulled away from the house, pinning him down underneath the deck."

Melrose firefighters used airbags to lift the porch off the man, who was in traumatic arrest and taken by ALS ambulance to the hospital.

Collina said that Carroll's wife, seen on a stretcher in the home's driveway being attended to by EMTs, was not injured in the collapse, but "overcome with emotions" and taken to the hospital as well.

A next door neighbor, who told Melrose Patch she did not hear the porch collapse, said that the couple has been living at the home for at least 40 years.

The Carroll's son, who was also present at the time of the collapse and not injured, went to the hospital with his father, the neighbor said.

"His son went inside for a drink and then, I don't know what happened," she said.