Van Crashes into Arby's, Kills Customer

A speeding U-Haul driver lost control and drove into an Arby's in Fresh Meadows, Queens, killing one customer.

Sixty-seven-year-old Caroline Leung and her husband had been eating near a window, and the Daily News reports the crashing van threw her from her seat and she was "pinned against a counter that holds the soda machines." A witness said, "There was blood everywhere on the floor and shattered glass. It was like worse than a horror movie."

Another driver told the News that the U-Haul had clipped him; the NY Times reports that a "van struck another van that had been stopped on Horace Harding Expressway, near Utopia Parkway," causing one of the vans"to mount the sidewalk and hit the restaurant." The U-Haul's driver Ioanis Kokiasmenos was charged with marijuana possession; other charges are pending.

Four people were injured, including Leung's husband. Her son said, "She was a great mother. I have a hole in my heart right now."

Photograph from WNBC

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By Jen Chung in News on January 9, 2008 8:04 AM

Comments [rss]

inycxjp

shit thats crazy. i chill around there.

a friend sent me this link, cus their last name was leung, and my ex's last name is leong. was about to laugh and say she got hit. but this is a sad story,

damn that sucks bigtime ...no more arbys

Spirit of 76

But of course. This is NYC. Haven't you been reading Gothamist? Lots of drivers have killed pedestrians and bicyclists and are not be charged with anything. NYPD doesn't care. The DA doesn't care.

drewo

Yeah, charge the guy with marijuana possession. That's a real crime!

Forget about the vehicular manslaughter and negligence charges though.

TK

hopefully there were no trans fats in the curly fries; that stuff will kill ya!

emilydickinson

That's the kind of prediction you will never hear at a fortune teller: 'You will be pinned against a soda machine in an Arby's by a stoned man in a U-haul'

What a way to go. I feel bad for her husband.

JenChungsBaby

Another Arby's related death.

Reality Czech

When the munchies strike...WATCHOUT!

tomlasusa

It's actually a pretty decent Arby's. It was being built just as I was moving out of the Flusing/Bayside area. I work close enough though that on occasion I can take a quick drive to grab something from them. The chicken salad wrap is really great.

That service road, where you get off the LIE for Utopia Parkway, has always been a hazzard. People barreling off the exit ramp, or zipping down the road making it tough for anyone exiting the LIE to move over. I'm saddened, but not terribly surprised, by this news story.

Aristocrat

I'm thinking lawsuit.

Papercutninja

This sucks. One minute you're eating with your husband, and the next a careening van kills you.

Also, there's an Arby's in Queens? Wow. Did not know that.