MTA bus, truck collide on Upper West Side; 14 treated
NEW YORK -- Fourteen passengers were injured when an MTA bus crashed into a construction vehicle late Thursday morning.
It happened on 82nd Street and Amsterdam Avenue on the Upper West Side.
"Nobody wakes up in the morning thinking they're gonna be in an incident like this," said Patrick Warren, the MTA's chief of safety and security.
Those on board the M11 bus said they were violently thrown forward when the bus collided with a construction vehicle at around 11:20 a.m.
"I feel pain in my shoulder and in my arm," passenger Saida Paget said. "Very bad. Everybody in the back was flying on the front because he hit the break hard."
Throughout the afternoon, passengers were checked out by paramedics on the scene. A total of 14 were hurt, but none suffered life-threatening injures, officials said. All but one of those passengers were taken to area hospitals for observation. The only visible damage on the bus was shattered glass on the driver's side of the windshield and a ripped-off side mirror. Authorities said they are taking a close look at the right rear of the construction vehicle that the bus ran into.
"It swerved into the lane of the bus, clipping the front of the bus, which then caused the bus to put the brakes on and jostle the passengers in the back," Warren said.
"We do deep investigations with the state and it's not about fault; it's about preventability," added Frank Annicaro, senior vice president of NYC Transit's Department of Buses.
MTA officials did not release the bus driver's name, but said he was among those hospitalized with minor injuries. They also said he's a 25-year veteran of the MTA, adding if he hadn't acted as quickly as he did before the collision, the accident could have been catastrophic.