CT Woman Injured When Concrete Falls From Overpass In Larchmont
LARCHMONT, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Imagine driving down the road and a huge piece of cement smashes through your windshield.
With 15 stitches and an eye swollen shut, Myra Flores wants Larchmont drivers to be aware of what she's calling a crumbling overpass on the New York State Thruway, CBS2's Emily Smith reported.
Flores said her husband was driving a Ford Explorer while she sat in the passenger seat, when suddenly something crashed through the windshield.
"I didn't know if we got hit by a car and it was the airbag hit me. I didn't know what was going on," she said.
Flores said a rock dropped from the Chatsworth Avenue ramp overpass on I-95 in Larchmont as they headed home to Stamford, Connecticut driving at about 65 miles per hour.
CT Woman Injured When Concrete Falls From Overpass In Larchmont
State police wouldn't comment other than to confirm a slab of concrete appeared to be missing from the underpass, Smith reported.
Flores saved a small piece of the concrete.
"(Who are you mad at?) I'm mad at the state. I'm mad at -- DOT came to my husband...they apologized. They apologized, that's what they did," Flores said.
Flores said the incident could have killed her. While she's alive, the prognosis for her eye isn't good.
"The back of my cornea is scratched a lot, and I still have debris inside as well," she said. "And I actually woke up with this eye a little swollen."
Flores knows she's lucky it didn't kill her, but she's especially thankful her three young children weren't in the car.
"The doctors told me if it had been someone older than me or younger than me, they wouldn't have made it," she said.
Flores said emotionally, it's the worst thing she's experienced. But with a little help from her mother and a lot of rest, she hopes to be well soon.
Still, she's worried it may happen to someone else.
A spokesman for the Thruway Authority said staff examined the site of the incident immediately on Saturday and determined the overpass was impacted by severe winter weather.
Currently, the left lane of the northbound I-95 is closed in Larchmont while the bridge is inspected as part of a bi-annual structural checkup, CBS2 reported.
