Communication senior Sean Carroll found out Saturday night why Kanye West is telling him to “Touch The Sky” – because the sky was falling.

Carroll said he was going to get ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery, 1611 Sherman Ave., with friends when several wooden beams and some glass fell from the upper section of the Sherman Plaza tower, feet from their car.

Construction on the building, which will be 25 stories high when complete, has reached the 20th floor.

“If we had parked my car literally two seconds earlier, it would have hit my car,” Carroll said. “A huge piece of wood fell out of the sky and then the glass shattered all over. We went under the shelter because we didn’t know what was happening. People on the street were freaking out.”

Evanston Police Department and University Police officers began blocking off Sherman Avenue between Church Street and Davis Street with police tape between 11:15 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. Saturday. The Evanston Fire Department also came to the site. Pedestrian traffic was halted and tow trucks were preparing to remove parked cars from the block.

The block was taped off “for safety precautions,” an EPD shift supervisor said Sunday evening. She said the debris blew off the construction site because of the high winds Saturday night.

A pile with several two-by-fours and various other debris was still visible near the Sherman Avenue storefronts Sunday morning.

Debris falling from the building struck one vehicle, damaging the car and causing minor injuries to the driver, said Sergeant Steven Goldenberg of EPD. The person did not require hospitalization and was treated at the scene.

Goldenberg said the street should be open today at about 5 a.m. Businesses on the block were closed Sunday but will re-open Monday as well.

Saturday’s accident was the second major incident at the Sherman Plaza construction site in the past two months. One construction worker was killed and another was seriously injured Sept. 16 when scaffolding collapsed on the sixth floor of the building. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has handled the investigation with cooperation from W.E. O’Neil, the construction company operating on the site.

Carroll said Saturday’s incident made him worry about the construction site.

“It shows they aren’t taking the best safety precautions,” Carroll said. “Someone could have been hurt really badly.”

Reach Laura Olson at [email protected].