Police: Driver Slams Into Queens Car Wash, 10-Year-Old Child Killed, 2 Others Injured
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A child was killed and two people were injured after a crash at a Queens car wash Wednesday.
Police say it happened after a car jumped a curb and crashed into the car wash at Beach Channel Drive near Dix Avenue in Far Rockaway around 4:15 p.m.
Video shows the car pull out of the grocery store parking lot, speeding straight into a building and hitting those walking on the sidewalk.
"She came out the supermarket at a high rate of speed," said Daquan Jones, an employee at a nearby barbershop.
He says it all happened so fast.
"The car just came, we seen it and we just tried to jump out the way. She just hit it and then she jumped out the car, screaming and hollering," Jones said.
"I don't know if she got nervous, she got scared, if her foot got stuck or what, but she kept going," said Legend Jones, who watched the incident unfold across from the grocery store where he works.
Police say a 35-year-old woman was behind the wheel. Workers at the grocery store say she had been shopping there right before the incident.
Daquan Jones says the car narrowly missed him but struck the customer he was walking with.
"We both tried to jump out the way, but the car caught her. She went on the hood, hit the windshield, went right into the car wash," Daquan Jones said.
"And your instinct was just to run and help her?" CBS2's Jenna DeAngelis asked.
"Yeah, everybody, the neighbors, people that I don't even know just ran over, they digged her out. She was alive. I was talking to her," Daquan Jones said.
They later learned a child was pinned between the car and the now partially collapsed building.
"She hit that little girl. Everybody ran over there trying to get her out," Legend Jones said.
The father was thinking of his own child as he tried to help the 10-year-old girl.
"I told the little girl, hey, you know, telling her, 'You're gonna be alright, we'll try to get you out here, shorty,' but once them beams came down, it was about nothing you can do," Legend Jones said.
Police say the child didn't survive.
"God gained an angel, but a parent lost a child," Legend Jones said.
"I was right down the street. I heard the crash. So when I come up, the lady was underneath the car there. They were trying to pull her out and stuff like that. I couldn't stand there and watch that," neighbor Tony Brooks said.
Daquan Jones says his customer is in the hospital but is expected to be OK.
The car remained lodged in the building hours after the crash. Its back window has a sticker that reads "new driver, please be patient." It's unclear if that was the case with this driver.
The circumstances of the crash are under investigation.
