accident1

It appears a driver lost control of his car on Monday, swerving across Avenue Z and slamming into the garage door of 1702 Avenue Z at East 17th Street.

The accident happened at approximately 6:30 p.m., according to tipster Mike Nemoy, who sent the photos and the following note:

I didn’t see the accident itself, only the immediate aftermath. People who saw it said the guy just randomly slammed into the building. Possibly lost control or hit the wrong pedal. He immediately ran out of the car, holding his head, and into the car wash across the street. I left before the cops came but he didn’t return for the 10 minutes I was there.

The damage and debris are still there, and it appears little effort has been made to clean it up.

accident2

I’ve long wondered about those garage doors, which were a late addition to the structure. The building wrapped up construction in early 2010, and shortly thereafter began advertising indoor parking. However, there was no garage, and the newly paved sidewalk lacked curb cuts and sported a group of freshly planted trees. All of that work was ripped out in 2011 when they finally decided to add the garage doors – which appear fairly flimsy, with thin glass and light metals.

Apparently my concerns were unfounded – it handled a car ramming into it without the car going fully through it, right?

Related posts


  • Subway Stinker

    Like someone wrote the other day, about other auto mishaps, I am sure that “…no charges were filed by the police…” There is something about the poor quality of drivers lately that has caught my attention. I wonder why so many cars seem to jump curbs? Are drivers getting worse, or are cars and streets poorly maintained, or what do you think?


    • NoChargesFiled

      No need to drive carefully – there’s no punishment.


    • Guest

      Why would you assume that criminal intent and activity was involved? The guy wasn’t acting normally after the accident, sounded like shock at the least and possibly some other mental/biological problem that could have affected his driving, or mechanical problems. Does innocent until proven guilty mean anything?


      • Subway Stinker

        On the contrary, Mister Guest, I don’t assume that criminal intent was intended. I asked, inter alia, “are drivers getting worse, or are cars poorly maintained…?” You provide another possible explanation Besides, criminal charges means only Charged, and innocent until proven guilty. I do not think “Charges” equals Guilt. Do you?


      • Andrew

        In addition to Subway Stinker’s comment (which I agree with fully), I’d propose that someone who has mental/biological problems that can cause this sort of incident should probably not be driving a motor vehicle – and anyone who does drive a motor vehicle despite such a condition is grossly negligent in so doing.


        • Guest

          That assumes they were aware of the problem before the accident. All kinds of things can happen that aren’t so black and white.


          • Andrew

            Of course – very little is black-and-white. That all needs to be looked into in the investigation.


    • Alex

      Or maybe just that the news are getting better?

      Try to run your bike into a car and you’ll find yourself surrounded by news vans in a matter of minutes.


  • Guest!

    general lack of enforcement.

    + perhaps economic upswing means children that generally wouldn’t be able to afford cars now can?


  • Charlene McCarthy Blake

    Toyota and Lexus vehicles…especially the Toyota Camry…have taken the lead in terms of sudden unintended acceleration-related crashes, particularly storefront crashes. Toyota vehicles have been found to have electronic glitches in the throttle system software (see Michael Barr’s finding at embedded gurus dot com) which can result in a full-throttle condition with an ineffective fail-safe. This is a serious state which can lead to fatality or significant injury. A Toyota owner recently won a big court case (Bookout V. Toyota) against Toyota which involved death and injury to the Toyota Camry occupants.

    In addition, Dr. Antony Anderson has analyzed the crash of a 2012 Toyota Highlander into a house. He has compared the recordings of the EDR (black box) with the video footage caught in the home security system. Dr. Anderson found discrepancies between the two. He found inaccurate recording of the EDR. This is significant because often the driver of the vehicle which has crashed into a building or storefront is INCRIMINATED based on the EDR alone. The driver is often braking at the time of the SUA initiation, but Toyota claims he/she is not doing so based in the EDR. In some cases prison time has resulted because the EDR results are accepted over the vehicle driver’s sworn statement. Toyota owners BEWARE of Toyota’s lack of support after an SUA event!

    Sudden unintended acceleration is NOT a problem related only to the elderly or women; it is not a driver error problem; it is not a simple stuck accelerator pedal or drifting floor mat issue. This is a DEADLY issue which the automakers, NHTSA, or the Department of Justice (I.e. Toyota’s criminal investigation) have not properly addressed. In fact, there is strong DENIAL that the problem exists at all. Yet…the crashes continue at an alarming rate now.

    Barriers placed in front of storefronts is a noble gesture. However, this is just a treat-the-symptom maneuver. The CAUSE must be recognized and fully addressed instead of being ignored.