A speeding wrong-way driver plowed into another car and then into the storefront of a deli in the Carroll Gardens section of Brooklyn on Sunday morning, in a crash so violent that witnesses were amazed no one was killed. The collision unfolded around 8:30 a.m. and sent people inside the deli scrambling for cover, before an off-duty stroke of luck and a nearby police presence brought a chaotic scene under control.
Police say the crash was set in motion by a car traveling the wrong way. A 23-year-old man was behind the wheel of a white Mercedes heading the wrong direction up Henry Street, with a woman in the passenger seat. At the same time, a 37-year-old man was driving a dark-colored Audi in the same area, unaware of what was barreling toward him.
The two vehicles came together with tremendous force. The Mercedes smashed into the Audi and continued into the front of the deli, shattering the calm of the morning. Witnesses said the Mercedes had been racing for at least two blocks before the impact, traveling at what they estimated to be at least 70 miles per hour as it tore down the street.
Inside the deli, workers feared the worst. The owner said it felt as though the ceiling was collapsing, prompting him and others to run to the back of the store for protection. Only minutes earlier, several customers had come in, bought sandwiches and left, a timing that spared them from being caught in the path of the car as it crashed through the front.
The response was almost immediate, in part because of where it happened. An NYPD detective who narrowly avoided being struck rushed to the Mercedes and handcuffed the driver, who could be heard repeatedly apologizing. With the local precinct right nearby, other officers who were walking in the area quickly moved in to check on the deli workers and secure the scene.
Those involved were left shaken but survived. The woman in the Mercedes was heard wailing, and witnesses said she appeared to have suffered a broken arm. The driver of the Audi climbed out of his wrecked car barefoot, carrying a small dog and clearly stunned, but he was not seriously hurt. To the astonishment of everyone at the scene, no one was killed in a crash that could easily have turned deadly.