5 Hurt After MTA Bus Crashes Into Pizzeria In Washington Heights

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Five people were hurt when a city bus collided with a minivan and then crashed into a pizzeria in Washington Heights on Friday morning, authorities said.

The incident occurred around 7:40 a.m. near Broadway and West 155th Street.

Witnesses said the green minivan made a left turn in front of the M4 bus, which was headed north on Broadway, CBS 2's Kathryn Brown reported. The bus then jumped the sidewalk and smashed into Tommy's Grill & Pizzeria.

"I just heard a loud noise, a screeching noise, so I screamed, turned my head," said employee Kiera Pinero, who was inside the restaurant at the time of the crash. "There was a whole bunch of broken glass, I saw the bus, I was in shock. I didn't expect to see something like that on a Friday morning."

"It felt like the building was going to collapse," added Luigi Gomez, who lives on the fifth floor of the building that houses the eatery.

Wendy Gomez said she was shaken from her bed.

"I was sleeping and I felt something like an explosion and it felt like an earthquake and my bed was swaying side to side," she said.

City council member Mark Levine said 10 people that were waiting at a bus stop on the sidewalk, "heard the noise and started running, but two of them were not able to escape."

The bus driver, two people in the minivan and two pedestrians -- a man and a woman -- were injured, officials said. None of the injuries are believed to be life-threatening, the FDNY said.

The bus was out of service at the time of the incident so there were no passengers on board, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said.

"(It was) shocking, nerve-wracking, but I'm happy that I'm OK. I'm happy everybody I work with is OK," Pinero said.

Crews were able to pull the bus out and then assess the stability of the building.

Police were reviewing surveillance video to see who was at fault in the wreck.

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