Wooden Beam Plunges From Subway Platform, Pierces Rideshare SUV Windshield In Queens
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - A rideshare driver narrowly escaped serious injury as a terrifying scene played out in Woodside, Queens Thursday afternoon.
Investigators say a wooden plank from the elevated 7 train platform came crashing down on a car driven near 65th Street and Roosevelt Ave.
The piece of debris could be seen sticking out through the windshield of the SUV operated by Mahboob Lodhi, an Uber driver.
"I was just surprise," Lodhi said. "I was shaking."
Emergency Medical Technicians and MTA personnel responded to the scene but luckily, the driver was unharmed.
"There must be an immediate investigation into how something this dangerous could happen," City Councilman Van Bramer tweeted. "MTA must answer for our crumbling subway infrastructure before a tragedy occurs."
Surveillance video from nearby shows the projectile fly into the SUV. Bobby Ramiro was working in an urgent care feet from where it plummeted.
"He didn't want to come out of his car it was still moving," he said.
The MTA says says it appears the wood fell from a supply platform installed under the tracks years ago. Late Thursday, workers could be seen dismantling the wood beams that were rotted out with nails sticking out of them before inspecting that area with flashlights.
Whether the wood was forgotten about after being placed there was one of several questions the MTA couldn't answer. Meanwhile, who walk and drive in the area every day know it could have been them who got hit.
"Yeah, I'm lucky," Lodhi said. "God blessed me, I'm happy."
The MTA says they will be launching an investigation into what exactly happened on Thursday. When asked whether they made an attempt to reach out to the livery driver, the agency said he had left the scene by the time they arrived.
