Moped collides with car in Queens, 2 teens hospitalized
NEW YORK — Two teens were hospitalized Monday after their moped collided with a car on a street in Glendale, Queens.
As CBS2's Lisa Rozner reported, the accident happened the night before a local councilman was planning to address past safety issues in the same area.
Surveillance video shows a car turning left from 88th Street onto Cooper Avenue just after 3 p.m. when it collides with a moped that goes past the crosswalk.
Both moped passengers were knocked off the vehicle.
A pizza delivery man saw the aftermath and called 911.
"I came back and I see people laying on the floor. The one lady was bleeding from the head," Paul Baumann said. "But I made sure I needed two ambulances immediately and a firetruck because the antifreeze was leaking from the car and we didn't know if it was going to blow up."
Police say on the moped were a 16-year-old female passenger, who is in the hospital but expected to survive, and the 15-year-old male driver, who has a broken leg.
"People take their cars and speed race up and down this street," resident Daniel Gonzalez said.
"This is about the third accident in three months that has happened at this corner between here and maybe 100 feet," resident James Maxham added.
Back in December, police say a 79-year-old woman was fatally struck crossing Cooper Avenue by a hit-and-run driver. And a month before, Sheila Gonzalez says a vehicle struck her while she was in the crosswalk and had the right of way.
"It's green for both of us, but I as a pedestrian I had the right of way and he just turned," Sheila Gonzalez said. "They fractured my pelvis, I had a brain bleed, a hematoma, and they shattered my arm."
"There's always people flying around the corner, which is why we're asking the politicians to do something fast because this is an ongoing problem," Roger Gonzalez added.
Councilman Robert Holden told Rozner he has already asked the Department of Transportation to change the traffic lights at this intersection so pedestrians have more time to cross.
"There has to be police enforcement. We have to get rid of these scooters that teens are riding. We have to bring back civility on our streets," Holden said.
He says over the last two years nine pedestrians have been killed in his district and he hopes Tuesday's meeting on Cooper Avenue with the DOT commissioner finally leads to action.