An ambulance struck a girl on Coney Island Avenue and Avenue X, leaving her seriously injured.
The accident happened just after noon. The girl was taken to Lutheran Medical Center where she’s in stable condition.
It’s unclear if the ambulance was operated by FDNY EMS or a private organization. The FDNY confirmed that the victim was female but would not give an age. Witnesses remarked on social media that it was a young girl.
Police closed the street off for more than an hour, and the NYPD’s Collision Investigation Squad is investigating the circumstances of the accident.
This post will be updated as we receive more information.
UPDATE (2:26 p.m.): Video from the scene appears to show a private ambulance. The organization’s name cannot be seen in the video.
Pedestrian just struck, severely injured by an ambulance driver at Coney Island Ave & Avenue X, Brooklyn. #VisionZero
— Vision Zero for NYC (@VisionZeroNYC) July 23, 2014
This is a breaking news story and may contain inaccuracies. We will update it as more information becomes available. If anyone has more information or additional photos, please send them to tips (at) sheepsheadbites (dot) com.
Police are searching for Robert Decarlo, a 26-year-old Gravesend resident suspected of being the driver in a hit-and-run yesterday on Flatlands Avenue that left a 12-year-old girl dead and her mother and 9-year-old sister in critical condition.
Detectives are searching for Robert Decarlo, 26, whom they described as 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighing 170 pounds, with brown eyes and short black hair. His last known address was at 114 Avenue U in Gravesend, Brooklyn, a few miles from where the crash occurred Wednesday, on Flatlands Avenue and East 46th Street.
Around 4:40 p.m., a stolen 2005 Dodge Caravan minivan that was speeding westbound on Flatlands Avenue jumped the sidewalk on the north side of the street, the police said. The vehicle plowed into the mother and her daughters, and the driver fled on foot, the police said
The minivan was reported stolen from Tommy’s Auto Repair at 2029 McDonald Avenue last week.
Police say the victims were walking on the sidewalk when the stolen 2005 Dodge Caravan jumped the curb and mowed them down. The driver, believed to be DeCarlo, fled on food.
“He lost control, he turn two times, boom boom, and then he go on top of the kids,” an eyewitness said. “We saw the two girls laying there bleeding, and like yo let’s move the car, there might be a third.”
“Me and a couple of other guys pushed the car up onto the hydrant,” another witness said.
Under the car, they found Joey Sellers.
“Her eyes were open and she wasn’t moving at all,” Shamar Brooks said. “She wasn’t blinking.”
DeCarlo has prior arrests for robbery and drug possession, and is currently out on bail for the March 21 assault and mugging of a 65-year-old woman in Brighton Beach. Cops say he kicked and punched her multiple times before fleeing with her purse.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS (8477). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website, or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.
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.
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?
Bryan Loughran, 32, died early Saturday morning after being struck by a hit-and-run driver on Gerritsen Avenue in Gerritsen Beach.
Police rushed to the scene at 2:45 a.m., outside of Gather Inn Again (2718 Gerritsen Avenue, near Everett Avenue), where they found Loughran with severe trauma to his body. EMS took him to Beth Israel Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Cops determined that Loughran had left the bar and was crossing the street when a white minivan traveling southbound struck him before speeding off. The Daily News notes that Loughran was thrown several yards, and the impact smashed the vehicles windshield and ripped out its headlight.
Authorities tracked down the driver, Michael Casale, 51, and cuffed him at approximately 5:00 a.m. He had ditched the car a few blocks away on Frank Court near Cyrus Avenue. Casale lives on 13th Avenue in Bensonhurst, where cops made the arrest.
Casale is facing charges of leaving the scene of a fatal accident and aggravated unlicensed operation of a vehicle. His prior rap sheet dates back to 1984, with arrests for drug possession, robbery, impersonating a police officer and criminal possession of a weapon.
A man was crushed to death by a tow truck this morning outside of the Lyghthouse Inn on Brigham Street.
Emergency responders were called to the scene just after 8:00 a.m. for an unconscious patient. FDNY EMS arrived and declared the man dead-on-arrival.
Early reports indicate the victim was a homeless man, although the FDNY could not confirm that.
Tipsters who were at the scene, including Pavel Itskovskiy who submitted the photo above, said that the man was pinned under the wheel of the truck.
The NYPD’s Highway Collision Investigation Squad is investigating the incident.
Brooklyn: U/D 3206 Emmons Ave. NYPD reports that a homeless male was struck by a tow truck.
Emmons Ave is blocked both directions.
— NYPD 911 Dispatch (@NYPD911Dispatch) June 26, 2014
Pedestrian struck by a tow truck driver at Emmons Ave & Brigham St, Brooklyn did not survive. #VisionZero
— Vision Zero for NYC (@VisionZeroNYC) June 26, 2014
UPDATE (4:30 p.m.): We just received the following information from the NYPD:
On Thursday, June 26, 2014 at approximately 0745 hours police responded to a 911 call of a pedestrian struck at Brigham Street and Emmons Avenue in the confines of the 61 Precinct. Upon arrival police discovered an unconscious and unresponsive male with severe trauma to the body. EMS responded to the scene and pronounced the unidentified male DOA. A preliminary investigation determined that a 2002 Flatliner tractor trailer while backing into a parking space did roll over the male with his driver’s side rear wheel. The driver did remain on scene. The New York City Police Department’s Highway Collision Investigation Squad also responded to the location and the investigation is ongoing.
This is a breaking news story and may contain inaccuracies. We will update it as more information becomes available. If anyone has more information or additional photos, please send them to tips (at) sheepsheadbites (dot) com.
Screenshot from the surveillance video just a split second before the Mercedes crashed through the storefront. (via ABC)
Police have arrested Yvonne Batiz, charging her with a DWI after she drove her 2013 Mercedes through the Coney Island Avenue storefront of Federal Tax Masters between Avenue X and Avenue Y yesterday.
Police responded to the Federal Tax Masters office in the 2700 block of Coney Island Avenue in Sheepshead Bay around 6 p.m. to find the car completely inside the business.
The entire crash was caught on surveillance video, which shows the 2013 Mercedes barreling down the street, hitting a parked car, crushing a parking meter and slamming into the storefront.
The surveillance video shows the driver heading south on Coney Island Avenue, then swerving across the yellow lines and northbound lanes for no apparent reason.
Batiz and her 54-year-old passenger were taken to Coney Island Hospital for minor injuries. Fortunately, no one was inside the accountant’s office, although the “reception area was reduced to rubble,” according to the outlet.
Deutsch with Trottenberg, Palmieri and other DOT representatives on Coney Island Avenue.
Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg stood at the base of the Coney Island Avenue overpass at Guider Avenue last Tuesday, as cars whizzed around her, made illegal turns, crossed into oncoming traffic and failed to get out of the way of emergency response vehicles. She stood there for approximately 20 minutes, visibly perplexed at the apparent lawlessness of one of Southern Brooklyn’s most convoluted intersections.
Trottenberg was there at the request of Councilmember Chaim Deutsch, alongside Brooklyn Borough Commissioner Joseph Palmieri and a handful of aides for each. She had already toured other problem spots in Manhattan Beach and said the agency would consider changes requested by the community, but the scene at this intersection – where Coney Island Avenue meets Guider Avenue, Banner Avenue, a service road and a Belt Parkway entrance ramp – prompted a more firm commitment.
“This one certainly,” said Trottenberg. “We have to do some major work here. It’s terrible.”
Within days, the commissioner had ordered a traffic study of the intersection, and Deutsch’s office confirmed that traffic engineers will visit the site to assess new traffic safety measures, including turn signals and medians.
Until more permanent changes are implemented, Deutsch worked with the agency and the NYPD’s Transportation Bureau and he 60th Precinct to bring traffic agents to the intersection. The agents deployed for the first time today, and will be there during peak hours, Deutsch told Sheepshead Bites this morning.
Traffic agents were at the intersection today. (Source: Deutsch’s office)
The councilman and the DOT hope the measures will go a long way to reducing traffic accidents at the location. Since 2014 began, there have been 11 collisions so far, including two pedestrians struck by vehicles and three occupant injuries, according to data obtained from the DOT by Deutsch’s office.
It’s not the first time local officials have raised issue with the intersection, or the DOT’s first stab at fixing it.
Community Board 15 has been a long-time advocate for improvements to the area, and was baffled in 2009 when the agency proposed a plan to reconfigure it that illustrated an utter lack of familiarity with the area.
A year later, then-Congressman Anthony Weiner also took the agency to task for the same plan. Both requested left-turn signals to restore order, but received a cold response from the former commissioner.
In the end of May 2012, the agency surprised locals by installing “No left turn” signs on southbound Coney Island Avenue. We stood there days later, and filmed car after car dangerously ignoring it in the span of just one minute.
As for the other sites that Trottenberg toured during her visit last week, the agency is studying some of the proposals, including turning Oriental Boulevard’s flashing yellow light at Ocean Avenue into a full-fledged traffic signal. Deutsch said he will work with the Parks Department to determine the feasibility of moving the Oriental Boulevard bike lane to the sidewalk on Shore Boulevard. A traffic study is also being ordered for Coney Island Avenue and Avenue O.
“I think it’s great that they came down here,” said Deutsch. “We had all three commissioners here to collaborate, and this is just the beginning.”
The driver of a 2013 Acura slammed into a tree on Ocean Parkway between Avenue O and Avenue P in the Midwood section of Brooklyn at around 3:30 a.m., police said.
… According to officials, the driver was heading northbound on the parkway and was possibly trying to make a turn when he lost control of the vehicle.
Photo by Brian Hoo
It took first reponders 15 minutes to cut the driver and two passengers from the vehicle, according to the Daily News. The 21-year-old passenger in the front seat was listed in critical condition. The driver, 24, and rear seat passenger, 20, were in stable condition. Witnesses told ABC that all three injured were men.
Photo by Brian Hoo
The Post reports that police are still investigating the cause:
Cops said there were no immediate indications of alcohol or drug use, but they’re looking into whether speed was a factor.
The impact left the car’s tires blown out, its hood sheared off, and the windshield shattered.
Passers-by gaped at the sight of the wrecked car, which at a quick glance appeared to have a tree growing out of it.
The car stayed wrapped around the tree for several hours, with the wreckage only being loaded onto an NYPD tow truck after 9:00 a.m.
The moment of impact was captured by surveillance video. (via Daily News)
Two people were killed in a devastating car accident outside of Kings Plaza Shopping Center on Monday, in which the deceased’s car was ripped nearly in half. The accident has spurred police to launch a 48-hour crackdown on speeding throughout the city.
Police issued the following information yesterday:
On May 19, 2014 at approximately 1840 hours [6:40 p.m.] police responded to a 911 call of a motor vehicle collision at the intersection of Flatbush Avenue and Avenue U in the confines of the 63 Pct. Upon arrival police determined that vehicle #1 a Nissan Maxima traveling southbound on Flatbush Avenue struck vehicle #2 a BMW which was turning onto Avenue U from northbound Flatbush Avenue. The driver of vehicle #1 a male 20 was taken to Coney Island Hospital where he was pronounced DOA. The passenger of vehicle #1 an unidentified female was pronounced DOA at the scene. The driver and passenger of vehicle #2 were taken to Kings County Hospital with minor injuries. Investigation is ongoing.
DNAinfo reports that the two killed were Philbert Martin Williams, 20, and his passenger, 18-year-old Christina Wipper.
Police believe Williams had been speeding when he hit the BMW, although no criminality is suspected and no summonses have been issued.
Security video from the 7-Eleven at that intersection captured the accident, which shows the Nissan darting down the street as the BMW made a turn. Police told the Daily News the BMW’s driver had a left-turn arrow.
The victim was driving his Yamaha Warrior motorcycle northbound on Macdonald Avenue near Avenue U when a vehicle attempted to make a left turn and struck him around 7:10 a.m., according to police.
The driver, a 60-year-old woman, told police at the scene that she never saw the motocyclist until after the accident, the paper reports.
The man was taken to Lutheran Hospital for head trauma and is in serious condition.
The NYPD’s Highway Collision Investigation Squad was summoned to the scene to investigate the circumstances that led up to the accident.
