Video: SUV Plows Into Grocery Store In College Point, Queens
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Two people are recovering late Monday after a vehicle crashed into a grocery store in Queens Monday afternoon.
Surveillance video obtained by CBS2 shows the terrifying moment a Honda Pilot slammed into the bodega in College Point just before 1:30 p.m.
You can see the car jump the curb and hit a woman on the sidewalk. The 27-year-old woman stands up and tries hobbling away through dust and debris.
She was rushed to the hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries along with Michael Napolitano, who was inside the shop next door.
"All of a sudden it sounded like a bomb and I went flying," he tells CBS2's Ali Bauman. "I turned around, all the wood fell down inside, bottles hit me in the head."
Danny Patel was working behind the register at VDK Grocery Store on College Point Boulevard at the time of the crash, and says the sports utility vehicle stopped only a couple feet short of him too.
"Very scared," he said. "No come outside, because I cannot see anything. I'm very scared and I say I want to come outside but how come I can't, the door isn't locked."
Police arrested the driver -- 22-year-old Sopohoes Tsirkas. He's charged with reckless driving, reckless endangerment, and driving without a license.
Witnesses say Tsirkas did not appear to be injured after the crash and describe his behavior as erratic.
"Basically the guy was out of the car screaming 'it wasn't my fault, it wasn't my fault, I almost killed a girl'," witness Richard Garcia said.
Police tell CBS2 the woman seen in the surveillance video was treated for neck pain and is recovering. As for Napolitano, he was treated for back pain and has since been released from the hospital.