Car Plunges 40 Feet Into Construction Site In Yonkers
YONKERS, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A car drove through a fence and plunged roughly 40 feet into a construction site in Yonkers on Monday morning.
The incident took place around 10:50 a.m. near the Metro-North Greystone station near Warburton Avenue.
The driver of the car was rushed to St. Joseph's Medical Center with serious injuries.
The woman lives at 1035 Warburton and was leaving the building's garage when it happened. She suddenly accelerated through the chain link fence, down a short embankment and over the cliff.
The gray Toyota landed on its nose and flipped over onto its roof, CBS2's Lou Young reported.
"I looked out the corner of my eye, and she's flying off the cliff," said construction worker Dave Way.
"I ran over and guys pulled the door off, and her legs were still moving so I knew she wasn't dead," Way added. "She's about an 80-year-old woman. She must've mistaken the gas for the brake and floored it right off."
First responders had some difficulty getting to the crash site, Young reported, but were able to recover the driver.
Firefighters were amazed the driver was alive and alert.
"She had a laceration. She was bleeding. She lost some blood. There was some in the car. But she was awake," said Assistant Chief Edward Cucolo. " We were very surprised. We expected to see much worse."
Work on the 330-unit apartment building has been going on for months. Neighbors have been looking at the deep pit with concern.
And it wasn't the first crash at the site, Young reported.
"It happened a few weeks ago," Danita Skills told Young. "They just put that big brick wall there to keep her from going over the embankment."
That car was stopped by a pole from going into the pit. A concrete barrier was put in afterwards. There was no barrier by the garage exit where this latest incident occurred.
"This is not the first time it has happened," Skills added. "It's the second time. ... Dangerous."
The cause of the crash is under investigation.