Baby Twins Among 7 Injured In Brooklyn Crash
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A livery cab driver was charged Sunday night after a horrific crash in Brooklyn that left a baby boy fighting for his life, and the child's twin brother and mother seriously injured.
On Fourth Avenue in Sunset Park, twisted car parts mark the spot on the sidewalk where a mother and her twin boys, just nine months old, were struck, reports CBS 2's Dave Carlin.
Police say the accident began with an out-of-control livery cab that hit a double-parked minivan. That van pushed a parked, unoccupied pickup truck onto the sidewalk, where Patricia Machutta was walking with her twin babies in a stroller. They had no chance to escape.
"We are heartbroken behind the situation because two kids are involved," Maggie Rosado, a relative of the livery cab driver, said.
Machutta and the boys are from Baltimore, and were visiting relatives in Brooklyn for the weekend.
"We were playing with them New Year's Eve, so that's why we were really shocked when we heard what happened," relative Andrea Sosa said.
The mother and twin boys were not the only ones injured in the crash. The livery cab driver and three passengers were also transported to Lutheran Medical Center.
Little Gustavo is critically injured with severe head trauma. He was transferred to Cohen Children's Hospital in New Hyde Park.
Police say livery cab driver Gregorio Patino, who was driving for Azteca Car Service, has a suspended license.
"I know it's not his fault," Rosado said.
Rosado said Patino had a double-parked car in front of him and a speeding car beside him.
"Because he's a cab driver, he tried to save the people in his cab," Rosado said. "As he tried to save them, the other car was speeding, and he couldn't go nowhere. There was nowhere to go."
Investigators charged Patino, 57, with aggravated unlicensed operation and reckless driving.
A police investigation of the incident is still ongoing.
