Crash Sends Truck Into Subway Pillar, Corner Restaurant In Brooklyn, 2 Pedestrians Injured
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - The driver of a box truck was questioned by police after they say he hit two pedestrians, a building, and a support pillar of an elevated subway platform Friday.
The sight of the truck wildly reversing after hitting a building caught bystanders on 86th Street in Bath Beach by surprise.
"He was coming towards me to be honest with you, I was running, I ran back across the street because I didn't know what was going on, I just knew he was reversing back," witness Nermeen Khalet.
Khalet told CBS2 she saw the truck make a sharp turn, jump the Brooklyn curb, and hit a man on a skateboard before plowing into the glass window of a restaurant – pinning the victim.
Cell phone video taken from inside the restaurant caught the truck smashing through the glass window. Seconds later, the driver reversed and hit another pedestrian before pulling forward and hitting the subway support beam.
"The driver of the truck then pulled in to the front and hit the pole," Sam Cheung said.
Khalet and other bystanders ran over in the chaos to help the victim on the ground.
"Just trying to keep him responsive, we were losing him, as we were talking, we were losing him," Khalet told CBS2's Valerie Castro.
Police say the 63-year-old driver was taken in for questioning, one man saw him being led away in handcuffs.
"The driver, there had to be something wrong with the driver, I don't know if he was drunk or if he had a problem," Sebastian Zara pondered.
While his fate remains unclear, the man on the skateboard is in critical condition, despite the help from total strangers.
Police say the other pedestrian who was injured, a woman, was taken to a nearby hospital with head injuries. She is expected to survive.