PROVIDENCE -- A Providence Place security vehicle nearly plunged from the fourth floor of the mall parking garage today but was stopped as it broke through a barrier.
Journal photo / Kathy Borchers
A Providence Place security vehicle hangs over the side after breaking through the partly open barrier on the fourth floor of the mall's parking garage.
The vehicle was left hanging, its front end protruding from a wire grid that forms the wall on the Promenade Street side of the downtown mall.
The accident happened at 10:45 a.m. as a mall security officer was patrolling the area in the vehicle, according to a statement from the mall.
The driver, Ramon LaBoy, 22, of Warwick was taken to Rhode Island Hospital when he complained of neck pain.
It was initially thought that he would be held overnight for observation, according to Rubin Lawrence, a spokesman for Allied-Barton Security Services, for whom LaBoy works. But a mall spokesman later said that LaBoy suffered minor injuries and was set to be released this afternoon.
Lawrence said the security company is investigating whether a mechanical malfunction caused the accident.
The vehicle's airbags did not deploy, and there were no sign of skid marks, according to a police report on the accident.
LaBoy told police he only remembers doing his rounds, then being loaded into a rescue vehicle.
The heavily-damaged vehicle was pulled from the edge of the garage by a tow truck.
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