Car teeters over edge of Alewife garage after causing barrier to fall; MBTA station closed
CAMBRIDGE -- The Alewife MBTA station was temporarily closed Saturday after a car crashed into a barrier on the top floor of the parking garage, sending concrete debris crashing through a glass ceiling. The car could be seen hanging over the edge of the building.
According to Transit Police, a man intentionally slammed his car into the barrier on the top deck around 1:30 p.m. The Cambridge Fire Chief says that steel beams above the station were able to hold the nearly 10,000-pound concrete slab.
"Somehow the atrium was able to support the 10,000 pounds and that piece of concrete barrier is being suspended by the steel atrium as we speak," Fire chief Tom Cahill said.
Concrete debris fell from the garage and shattered glass panels above the lobby of the station, injuring the hand of a young girl in the lobby.
The driver was taken to a local hospital.
Alewife Station will remain closed indefinitely, Transit Police said, as crews clean up and the structural integrity of the building is evaluated.
The MBTA said shuttle buses are replacing Red Line service between Davis and Alewife.
Will Carlin had just parked at the Alewife garage and was headed to board a train when he walked up to the station and saw the damage.
"It seemed like a scene out of a movie or something," Carlin said. "I didn't know what to make of it."
Carlin recorded video of the incident on his phone.
"I was trying to figure out what happened because there was so much damage. I think you can see in the video there was a pole that slashed through the window of the elevator," he said. "I could see gloves on the floor by the ticket machines. So I was assuming someone got hurt."
