Monday, January 3, 2022

An SUV collision on 1st Avenue at 5th Street

If you traveled on First Avenue at Fifth Street today, then you likely noticed the Ford SUV on the sidewalk, lodged amid the Village View sidewalk bridge. 

EVG reader Chris Ryan shared the top photo from around 8:30 a.m. 

Here are more photos from EVG regular Salim showing the damage to the sidewalk bridge and vehicle on the east side of the avenue...
Still piecing together what happened. A reader shared the photos below from just after 2 a.m. ...
The reader believes the minivan slammed into the Ford, which was parked at the time... and the collision propelled it onto the sidewalk...
And what was the driver doing going in that direction on the northbound First Avenue? Was the driver heading east on Sixth Street and made a right and drove the wrong way on First Avenue? A less likely explanation is the driver turned the wrong way off Second Avenue and headed across Fifth Street — and right by the 9th Precinct — before coming to an end here. 

Will update if any more info becomes available.

Also, the M15 stop here is temporarily not in service...

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh man. And what's up with that scaffolding? It's nowhere near the building and has been up forever. Doesn't even seem like they're doing any work.

Anonymous said...

Someone finally snapped and tried to take out the long standing sidewalk bridge.

Anonymous said...

Unfortunate the scaffolding is damaged. I hope it is repaired in a timely manner. Our safety depends on it.

Anonymous said...

They've been working on the buildings across the street on 4th and 3rd for many, many months now, and they just recently started two more on the Avenue A side. It seems they're leaving this building on 5th street for last. The scaffolding needed to be up even before work started on any of the buildings because the facades were deemed unsafe by the city. It's to protect pedestrians from possible falling debris.

Anonymous said...

The sidewalk bridge will be removed in 2025-26 per inside source

Anonymous said...

I live at VV - the sidewalk sheds are in response to Local Law 11 issues (facade issues). Only recently had work begun on the buildings on the south end of the complex. Most brick and balcony work is done, and crews are moving north. The sheds will come down accordingly when work around an entire building is done, hopefully within the next 2 years.

Anonymous said...

It appears that the blue mini van was heading the wrong way on 5th Street at a high rate of speed. There are a pair of skid marks leading from 5th street directly to the point of impact.

Anonymous said...

News media, nay the world, needs to stop using the word "accident" in the context of motor vehicle operator errors.

mp said...

My wife and I were on 1st Ave & 6th Street walking our dog when the crash occurred. The gray SUV came speeding up 1st Ave going the wrong way and slammed into the other vehicle near the bus stop.

A few minutes before the crash we had just said goodnight to a neighbor walking her dog and so we rushed to the sight of the accident to make sure she was not hurt.

The police were already on the scene and so after determining that our neighbor was safe I went over to the cops and said I saw the car speeding by going the wrong way.

At this point, the SUV had its door wide open and was empty with its airbag deployed. The cop seemed uninterested that I had seen the speeding car and asked if I had seen anyone leave the vehicle. When I told him I did not he just walked away.

Since the cops appeared to be instantaneously at the scene of the crash it appears they must have been chasing the SUV. But that's just a guess

Anonymous said...

Wow that is scary I walk under that scaffolding at that exact spot where that SUV hit all the time. Glad I was not there when this occurred.

Anonymous said...

People keep saying "SUV" slammed into the parked vehicle, but the car in question appears to be a minivan, which hit a parked SUV.

Also to mp, do you mean it was speeding "down" 1 Ave the wrong way, as 1 Ave is northbound?

Anonymous said...

Sucks! I just looked at the license plate of the Ford SUV. Has a handicap emblem on it. I hope they catch whoever is responsible.

Anonymous said...

Thankful no one was hurt on the street. This is a busy sidewalk with pedestrians, many of them elderly, present nearly 24/7.

To the commenter above who witnessed the crash - it's so disappointing, yet not surprising, the cops didn't care.

Anonymous said...

Why do we have highways like 1st Ave slicing right through a neighborhood which is mainly pedestrian anyway? So wrong.

Anonymous said...

There was another big car crash a block north about a month ago, but I never heard anything about it. It happened around 11pm and was so loud, I heard it from inside my building and ran outside. There were cars piled up in front of the Dunkin Donuts and a gaggle of cops standing on the corner.

OlympiasEpiriot said...

My assumption is that the minivan belongs to a cop or is cop-adjacent because I have seen cops come out from 5th St onto 1st Ave. Yes, I know it is a one-way street.

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