Tour Bus Slams Into Upper East Side Tree Leaving 15 Injured
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Fifteen people were injured when a bus crashed into a tree on the Upper East Side Thursday.
They were eager to see New York City, instead many are nursing scratches and bruises.
The crash took place at around 1:15 p.m. at 63rd Street and Fifth Avenue. The front bumper of the tour bus could be seen wrapped around the tree, WCBS 880's Peter Haskell reported. The windshield was blown out and rubber molding was peeled back.
As CBS2's Dave Carlin reported, the double-decker tour bus was carrying less than 20 sightseers when it slammed into the the tree.
German tourists seated in the rear, of the top of the bus were to high up to see what caused the crash or brace themselves.
"Some of us flew over the seats, and I crashed into the seat in front of me," Sophia said, "Somebody said something about a taxi cutting off the bus and the bus driver had to go to the right."
Other witnesses said there was a city bus in the lane ahead and the driver suddenly swerved to miss it.
Danny Palletto was working on a construction project across the street when the accident happened.
"I had my back turned so I just heard a big crash, the ground actually shook," he told WCBS 880.
He and others ran over to help.
"People in shock. A few people were bleeding on the upper deck of the bus, almost like they hit their face on the seats in front of them," Palletto added.
"I saw the people in the top the second deck, a lot of them were bleeding, bleeding in the second deck," witness Olive Evangehita told CBS2's Dick Brennan.
Two witnesses told CBS2 the Go New York tour bus was heading southbound and was moving into the bus lane where a city bus was stopped right ahead of it picking up passengers.
"And he veered off with no breaks at all and just jumped the sidewalk and hit the tree, and it's amazing that nobody got hit with all the pedestrians and the sidewalk there," witness Bernard Bradley said.
Witnesses said police and firefighters arrived at the scene very quickly and got people off the bus. The 15 injured passengers were taken to the hospital.
A 70-year-old man and 71 year-old woman, both tourists, were taken to New York Presbyterian with non-life-threatening head injuries.
GO New York, the bus company, released a statement regarding the accident on Thursday night.
"We deeply regret the distress caused by the incident. We adhere to and comply with the federal and state guidelines on vehicle and driver safety."
The tourists who spoke with CBS2's Carlin said they were done with tour buses and would stick to pedestrian pursuits for the rest of their trip.