Gothamist: Van Wreaks Havoc in Soho

thefacts

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:16:02 -0500

#30 Andrew Berman plus a lot of angry Italian oldtimers would disagree with you. It's the South Village. End of discussion. Check the zoning maps, the demography, the history, the economics, the history, the politics, the rents, the electoral districts, and the architecture. Small details, I realize.

Snoopy

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:02:34 -0500

Bozo, that is SoHo. Maybe not the cast iron SoHo you might think of but it's SoHo.

Bozack

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 19:08:34 -0500

Not to be anal but that's NOT Soho..... close to it, though. Seems these days that people call Little Italy, parts of the West Village, and the East Village, "Soho." The L.E.S. and Chinatown are next on the Soho expansion plan I would assume.

cofo

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 18:45:52 -0500

I was actually at that scene last night and Im so happy to find the story because I've been looking for it all day. I guess a hit and run is not important anymore to make the newspapers and top news station. Anyway the accident was pretty bad. The bastard that fled was tackled, and tripped several times but he kept getting up. Kudos to the guys that tried to stop him. That guy should be in some serious pain because on his last fall he hit the pavement face first. He must have been on something to not stay down. He left his basketball cap behind and this lady (who said she was a lawyer) kept it from blowing away by stepping on the rim. It was collect by the cops, which one of them actually said "We don't need the hat because we have the car with the license plate" Hello copper?! The van was stolen!!! I've watched a few CSI and Law and Orders to know you should collect all types of evidence regardless!! The poor little smart car didn't have a chance and thank god it was empty because had there been people inside, they would be dead. That van was out of control. I pray the lady that was hit is alright. I walked by the area today and aside from the glass and the van's bumper it looks as if nothing happened. Yes crime is UP!!!! Lets all be careful out there!

Snoopy

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 18:31:33 -0500

#25 Thanks for the Newtonian observation, but I believe Spirit was commenting on the relative merit of having a well engineered vehicle such as the Smartcar vs. GM's version called the Chevy Metro that also could be known as the Dumbcar. NO COMMENT ON #26's observation, it stands by itself with its author's blessing.

glennQNYC

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:43:03 -0500

If the small business chose to use a rickshaw instead of that evil van, this never would have happened.

glennQNYC

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:35:52 -0500

#23: Fact is, when vehicles collide, the occupants in the heavier vehicle usually fare much better. You may not like the environmental impact of such vehicles, but to distort reality to promote "greedy" autophobes' agenda is only a display of your programming.

Snoopy

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:31:13 -0500

One of the reasons that the smart car doesn't get as high an mpg one would think from such a small car is it's built with a lot of crash absorbing structural steel. That makes the car heavier than what it appears, hence lower gas mileage.

Spiritof76

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:24:04 -0500

Why is the Smart being intact surprising so many people? Mercedes designed it. They know a little about safety structures. And this proves that the idea that it takes a massive SUV to survive a crash is nothing but an urban legend, promulgated by people who flunked physics class and greedy auto makers.

ironybubble

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 12:34:49 -0500

Looks like the smart car held up its end of the bargain, wow!

ehernandez

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 12:24:02 -0500

I was across the street when this all happened and was one of the MANY witnesses calling 911. There was also a man who ran after the driver and a group of people who stayed with the women even while the EMTs were there. What was disturbing was while we were calling 911 a police van with 3 cops drove by and pedestrians tried to flag them down to stop and the driver just shook his head and kept driving despite seeing all the people and the crashed van.

thefacts

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 09:59:29 -0500

#19 I once tackled a guy being chased by the owner of a stolen bike, got injured by the momentum, and returned the bike to the owner. I never used my injury to discourage the use of bikes. Only the cycling zealots would capitalize on someone else's tragedy involving a stolen car to propagandize their agenda.

Huffy6241

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 09:45:35 -0500

You know - this is clearly another reason we should do more to support congestion pricing and encourage more bicycles in the city.

Rocknrope

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 09:43:59 -0500

#12 FTW.

aveB4life

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 09:42:17 -0500

it would have been cool to see the smartcar get tossed across an avenue.

The Edge

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 09:29:14 -0500

#10- Uh, it's quite far from Rice to Riches. Note the location -- "the park where Prince St/MacDougal St/6th Ave meet"

thefacts

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 09:23:01 -0500

#12 Spot on! Dumbest comments ever. And all the Walter Mittys or Robin the Boy Wonder in front of their computers bragging how they would make Gotham safe from the crime and chase down the Joker. p.s. It's not SoHo; it's the South Village.

gtraindelay

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 09:14:56 -0500

it's across the street from my office too!

Billiamsburg

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 09:05:28 -0500

Not even a description of the guy? No one tried to stop him? Did anyone bother to help the woman or did they just step over here so they could get to Anthropologie before it closed?

h8tyuppies

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 08:34:09 -0500

Oh my GOD!!! You work across the street?? Holy smokes!! you sometimes buy your beer there? Crime is going up? The neighborhood is changing??? OH MY GOD you guys are so NY you get excited over a little car accident with a stolen van. LOL KYS!!

r1b2

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 06:44:46 -0500

I hope the witness also thought to share any photos with the police and not just with Jen Chung. It would be nice to see this turd get arrested.

stackmaster

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 04:23:51 -0500

He just ran away? Really? And no one tried to stop him? Probably too busy with their trendy SoHo b.s. & stomachs full of Rice to Riches.

kid icarus

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 01:49:39 -0500

@ Clarice City: Main Entry: gra·tu·itous Listen to the pronunciation of gratuitous Pronunciation: \grə-ˈtü-ə-təs, -ˈtyü-\ Function: adjective Etymology: Latin gratuitus, from gratus Date: 1656 1 a: given unearned or without recompense b: not involving a return benefit, compensation, or consideration c: costing nothing : free2: not called for by the circumstances : unwarranted — gra·tu·itous·ly adverb — gra·tu·itous·ness noun I can't tell if you meant your comment to the positive or negative... whatever you think of the cameraphone photog without them you'd have nothing to talk about. and I wouldn't have found you...aww either way both your two comments and my own are clearly gratuitous but then why must we judge hope the injured woman's alright

hanuman

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 01:08:10 -0500

I was thinking the same thing about the Smart Car. That little bugger holds up pretty well. Hope the lady is ok and that they catch this scumbag.

Clarice City

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:37:22 -0500

gratuitous

Clarice City

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:36:20 -0500

You took that many photos of someone else's horrible accident? Gratutitous.

Snoopy

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:24:33 -0500

Holy smokes! That's the same deli where I get my beer on occasion. The neighborhood is changing. But then again the van was stolen in the Village not in SoHo. I guess the idiot didn't realize he had to make a sharp right when he got to Prince street. I hope the women is OK also. Then again is the address correct? I don't remember any construction fences at Prince and Sixth Avenue. Or did the wreckage end up further down Sixth about Vandam Street?

chris26

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:23:54 -0500

sure the frame of the smart care looks fine. but its a quarter the mass of the minivan... which one bounces off when you throw a golfball against a bowling ball? Such a rapid change in inertia is just not good for the occupants...

tingo

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 23:38:44 -0500

Soho? Looks like crime is on the up. Hope the woman is ok. Someone should have beaten that scumbag thief down.

geekyfemme

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 23:24:03 -0500

That is across the street from my office!!!

krunkymunky

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 23:08:46 -0500

that smart car looks like it held together pretty well.