CBS2 Exclusive: Car Jumps Curb, Slams Into Building In Canarsie, Brooklyn
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – A Brooklyn street looked more like a demolition derby Saturday morning when a car careened out of control.
The driver survived, thanks in part to the quick thinking of Good Samaritans who ran over to help.
Video obtained exclusively by CBS2 shows the car plow down a sidewalk in Canarsie, toppling traffic meters and a light pole like dominos before slamming into a building.
"When I get outside, I see the car already crushed, turned over. The guy turned upside down like this," witness Alrick Williams told CBS2's Jessica Moore.
The smoking car finally came to a stop near East 96th Street and Avenue L.
"I was panicked, I was scared, because I think the car is going to blow up, because it was smoking," Williams said.
But fear was no match for the Good Samaritan who rushed out of his store to rescue the driver trapped inside.
"I cut the seatbelt with a knife," he said.
Other neighbors also raced to the scene to help.
"I expect somebody else to do the same. If you have to help, you have to help," Williams said. "So I'm not really a hero."
The strangers stayed by the driver's side until firefighters and police arrived.
"He was walking around. He came outside, he was walking around," Williams said.
EMS told CBS2 the driver was taken to Brookdale Hospital in stable condition.
Neighbors were thankful no one else was hurt.
"I'm thinking that God must be on this block, because nobody was walking here at 6:30 in the morning. This is a major thoroughfair in Canarsie," Elise Kaplan said. "This is a Saturday morning miracle that nobody was here."
Police still aren't sure what caused the driver to lose control.
