Victim ID'd in deadly FDNY chain-reaction crash in Brooklyn
A 78-year-old Gravesend, Brooklyn, man was killed just half a block from his home in a chain-reaction crash involving an FDNY truck on Tuesday night.
Video shows crash
Surveillance video shows a white commercial van heading north on West 11th Street when a truck from Tower Ladder 149 slams into it at the intersection of Avenue S at around 6:45 p.m.
The fire truck then crashes head-on into an Access-A-Ride van, which then slams into a Lexus behind it.
Placido D'Andrea, a 78-year-old who was on board the Access-A-Ride, was killed. His wife, who was a passenger on the same vehicle, remains hospitalized.
Residents in the area said D'Andrea and his wife live a half a block away from the intersection, and they were on their way home from a medical treatment D'Andrea's wife was receiving.
Witnesses said the couple's daughter was at their home at the time, and discovered what happened to her parents at the crash scene.
"Nice family. Nice people. It's a shame," one area resident said.
"Sad for the girl, and her family, actually. 'Cause she lost her father and her mother's in the hospital," one neighbor said. "They always stayed on the porch. Quiet people. Family people."
Six firefighters along with the drivers of the commercial van, Lexus and Access-A-Ride and three other civilians were hospitalized. All are said to be in stable condition.
Michael Liu said he owns the white commercial van involved in the crash, but his employee was behind the wheel at the time of the crash. The employee was among those taken to the hospital, and he checked out Wednesday morning.
Liu said his employee told him he did not see or hear the firetruck approaching, so he tried to proceed through the intersection because he had the green light.
FDNY vehicle was relocating
The FDNY said Tower Ladder 149 was responding to a call not for a fire but for relocation "to another fire company that was operating at an all-hands fire."
By law, lights and sirens require non-emergency vehicles to stop or yield, though FDNY chauffeurs must also exercise "reasonable care."
The FDNY said it's investigating the crash and no arrests have been made.
