Two drivers in the Morrisania section of the Bronx say they are counting their blessings after a violent crash sent two parked cars flying. The wreck unfolded near the intersection of Boston Road and Union Avenue, and both men say they had stepped away from their vehicles just moments before the impact, a decision they now believe may have saved their lives.
The crash happened at around 11:30 on Monday morning. Surveillance video of the scene shows a car swerving into the oncoming lane of traffic, slamming into a parked truck before careening into a Toyota Highlander parked nearby. What began as a single vehicle losing control quickly turned into a chain of destruction along the block.
The force of the collision was striking. According to those at the scene, the impact was so powerful that it launched the SUV on top of another car, shattering the windshield in the process. The sheer violence of the crash left the parked vehicles mangled and stacked on top of one another.
Iza Jabi was one of the drivers who narrowly avoided being caught in it. He said he had parked his car and stepped inside a nearby grocery store just a few minutes before the crash. He recalled hearing a loud noise, a boom, and coming back out to find his car sitting on top of another vehicle. An Uber driver with a family, Jabi said he was thankful he was not behind the wheel, even as he acknowledged the crash has come at a real cost given the rent and bills he still has to pay.
Tyree Childs told a similar story of a close call. He said he had just finished cleaning out his work vehicle and admitted he had cut some corners rather than going through the full process. Looking back, he said those shortcuts may well have saved his life, noting that had he stayed longer he could have been sitting in the vehicle when it was struck.
A neighbor, Justice Villaba, who works next door, was among the first to rush out and try to help the driver still trapped inside one of the vehicles. He said he could smell oil and saw it dripping, and feared the car might catch fire. Villaba noted that his son's school is just up the block, where classes of children regularly walk along the street, and expressed relief that the out-of-control car had not struck anyone as it tore through the intersection.