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Yesterday morning, an out-of-control car crashed into a Queens bus shelter in Douglaston, injuring seven people, not to mention the shelter. One person had two broken legs, while four other also suffered broken bones. And the apparent explanation for the havoc? The Post reports, "Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said the car hit a puddle and hydroplaned into the shelter."
One witness said that the driver appeared to be speeding, telling WCBS 2. The Queens Courier says the driver was 17-year-old and had apparently been trying to pass a car that he'd been tailgating. The driver who was being tailgated said, "He went into the other lane to overtake me [and] he lost control and he hydroplaned. He hit the curb, and he went airborne, hitting people like a bowling alley.” No summons were issued since the driver had a clean license.
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No summons issued because this shitty kid hadn't fucked up before he sent seven people to the hospital? Sounds like a clear case of reckless driving - tailgating, speeding to overtake. Stupid little shit.
No summons issued because he was in a car.
We all know that you can get away with murder (literally) in NYC provided you're in the protective envelope of your motor vehicle.
Yep.
I wonder what his punishment would have been if he had plowed into a bunch of cops instead. Probably wouldn't be much left of him after they got done.
"...injuring seven people, not to mention the shelter..."
Didn't know shelters could be injured.
What's next?
"Equal rights for shelters! Shelter marriages now!"
pretty retarded comment, even by gothamist standards.
Back at you (completely).
Here's an idea for how to keep yourself from hydroplaning: don't drive so fast when it's been raining, you goddamn fucking moron.
For serious.
outlaw teen drivers. do it. thanks.
and really old ones too. Way too many old people who can't see and are driving around!
agreed. after a certain age, gramps and granny should have to pass minimum physical requirements to drive. some of these ol' coots are downright dangerous.
Or we could, you know, actually enforce existing traffic laws and aggressively prosecute reckless drivers (regardless of age, and even when they have a "clean record").
It's not as if carelessly driving a vehicle in public is a fundamental right handed down by the almighty.
As I said yesterday, I expected the NYPD to arrest the victims for daring to get in the way of the car. This result is not far off. Chances of a 17 year old driver being an idiot are 99%, and then we even have a witness stating that he made an illegal move, yet somehow this is not worthy of arrest? C'mon.
The witness statement isn't clear. The "other lane" could be the left lane. However it's still obvious that the vehicle was operated in a reckless manner.
See, this is why I'm all for surveillance cameras everywhere (I know, I know, but stay with me on this one...) The cops will claim (or use their sense of logic to say) that they can't do anything about it because A) no one got killed, and B) a cop didn't actually see it. With video footage though, you put it on the internet, a shitstorm starts, and something gets done.
Fine, I'm all for surveillance cameras, black box recorders, etc.
But this bullshit about the NYPD not being able to do anything because no one got killed is just that -- bullshit. Whether or not someone was killed, or merely severely injured, has nothing to do with their ability to investigate the incident. And it should have nothing to do with their willingness to do so.
And it's not as if there weren't loads of witnesses.
I used to live in the area, so no, you don't hydroplane from being in the left lane in that area because rain water does not pool in the middle of a two-way street on an incline.
It's a small enough neighbourhood, someone is bound to know who the driver is. And if the police don't do anything about it, I'm sure there are quite a few residents who will.
let's get to the heart of the issue -- if that jackass in front of the kid wasn't driving so damn slow and annoying like, he wouldn't have had to overtake him in the lane with the puddle.
the problem isn't the teen driver -- it's the sunday driver.
So u were saying the 6 people injured in the bus stop are because of the "sunday driver"?! I was there and I was injured. The driver in front of the kid drove at a medium speed!! It was not so slow as u imagined at all!!! The kids should take all the resposibilities for the accident!!!!!!
What difference does it make that this kid has a "clean license"??? Does everyone get a free pass the first time they willfully endanger the public and plow into a crowd of people?
The NYPD and DAs' offices need to have their priorities rearranged, like now.
willfully? he hydroplaned, kid. come on.
From the Queens Courier: "According to police, the driver 'had a clean license'; he was neither arrested nor issued any summons. 'We weren’t there to witness an infraction,' the police source said."
That driver injured 7 people by driving recklessly and didn't even receive a summons? Is he the son of a cop or something like that?