Last night around 8:30 p.m., three cars were involved in an ultimately incendiary collision on the Upper West Side. WABC 7 reports that the cars crashed at West 104th Street and Amsterdam Avenue: "One of the cars burst into flames. Another rammed into a bus shelter and ended up on the sidewalk." more ›

Yesterday afternoon, a fuel truck collided into a Delta Airlines plane at LaGuardia Airport. According to NY1, Delta said "all 106 passengers aboard flight 2879 were sitting down and the plane wasn't moving when the accident occurred." However, the flight, which was scheduled to fly to Fort Lauderdale, was canceled. more ›

We received a tip today from Merry Orling about yet another horse carriage collision, this time with a bus in midtown, that she witnessed this week: more ›

A Harlem hip-hop artist and rap promoter was killed in an accident yesterday morning on the George Washington Bridge. Huddy Combs, also known as Andre Hudson and Huddy 6, 33, was in a car on the NJ-bound side of the bridge when it collided with a tractor-trailer around 5:15 a.m. he was pronounced dead at the scene. more ›

A reckless driver was the catalyst for a dangerous four car collision yesterday, involving an ambulance and a M100 bus on 125th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard. Witnesses say that a black Acura with North Carolina plates was blasting music and not paying attention when it hit the eastbound ambulance, which was responding to a call at Randalls Island. more ›

Just after 6:15 p.m. last night, one person was killed and others were injured when two recreational boats collided in the Upper New York Bay near Liberty Island. According to NBC New York, "Officials said a 30-foot boat, with a family of five on board, 'T-boned' a 20-foot boat with three people in it, splitting it in half." The man who died had been on the smaller boat; the other two men injured were also on the smaller boat. more ›

For hiding a "dangerous" gas pedal defect the U.S. government wants to hand Toyota the maximum penalty, a fine of $16.4 million, reports the AP. That's a paltry amount for the world's largest automaker, which has seen surging sales despite its PR crisis. The sudden acceleration problem was blamed in several NY area incidents, including a Westchester nanny who drove into a stone wall (it turned out she didn't brake). Opportunistic drivers aside, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says investigators have determined the auto giant acted badly. "We now have proof that Toyota failed to live up to its legal obligations," he said in a statement. "Worse yet, they knowingly hid a dangerous defect for months from U.S. officials and did not take action to protect millions of drivers and their families." more ›

A drunken hit-and-run driver was a dead duck by the time police found him, slumped unconscious over the wheel of his Chevy minivan in Dyker Heights. After striking a pedestrian in his 50’s as he was crossing the street, 24-year-old Luis Cuamai attempted to flee the scene, but crashed into a parked car two blocks away and knocked himself out. According to the News, cops found him around 3:30 p.m. yesterday and charged him with drunk driving and leaving the scene of an accident, among other things. As for the victim, "He was lying in the middle of the street with blood pouring out of his head," said one witness. Despite that grim report, he is now at Lutheran Medical Center where doctors say he should survive. more ›

Despite the picture, nursing student Theressa Compere says the injury inflicted when a B6 painfully peeled the skin from her ankle three years ago has left her permanently unable to wear mini skirts and shorts. (Here she is wearing pants.) In 2008 the teen was crossing a Brooklyn intersection when the B6 bus rolled on top of her foot. Damage might have been minimal, reports the Daily News, had the driver not turned the wheel—causing the skin to come off completely—but backed up instead. Now, she says "when I go to the beach I have to cover up. I can't wear heels and it hurts when I walk up a flight of stairs." Compere is suing the city, demanding reparation for the accident that hospitalized her and caused her great pain and inconvenience. more ›

Karen Schmeer, the longtime Errol Morris editor who was hit and killed Friday night by a frenzied getaway driver, has been called “one of the greatest editors of her generation.” The industry professional, who edited "The Fog of War" and many other documentaries, was crossing W. 90th Street yesterday when she was struck down by a car fleeing from the police. Its driver and passengers had just robbed over-the-counter allergy medicine from a local CVS, and fled on foot from the scene of the accident with cops giving chase. more ›

Two city buses ran into each other at the corner of Third Avenue and East 41st Street in Midtown, injuring at nine, according to preliminary reports. The collision occurred at around 5:30 pm on an avenue serviced by the M98, M101, M102, and M103 buses.
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Yesterday morning, two fire trucks collided in Brooklyn on Ashford Street between New Lots Avenue and Hegeman Street. A truck from Engine 236 and a truck from Ladder 107 were both responding to a gas emergency, but Engine 236's truck hit Ladder 107's at an intersection, causing Ladder 107's rig to overturn. A witness said, "It went up in the air. I could see the wheels. It spun, and then it slammed down on its side, and then it slid and stopped, wrapped in the tree. To think you could turn that thing over." more ›

Fire trucks from Engine 236 and Ladder 107 collided this morning on Ashford Street between New Lots and Hegeman Avenues. A number of firefighters were taken to area hospitals and we hear that "heavy wreckers and fleet services" are requested to the scene. The Daily News reports, "It was not immediately clear if either rig was on a call at the time of the accident." more ›

On Friday night, at the 7th Avenue and 51st Street intersection in Sunset Park, a Chinese restaurant deliveryman on a scooter collided head-on with an FDNY cruiser—a witness said Lin Chen, 36, was bleeding so much he looked dead (the photo is dramatic). Today, the Daily News reports that Chen remains in the ICU at Lutheran Medical Center. According to News and Post, FDNY EMS Deputy Chief Brian Milzoff will not be charged. Milzoff, whose lights and sirens were on (according to EMS sources that spoke to the News) had been responding to a call about a stabbing which later turned out to be false. The Post adds, "Witnesses wondered why Milzoff didn't get out to help the victim, but EMS sources said he was actually pinned in his car," and tests showed Milzoff was not drunk. Meanwhile, relatives are hoping the best for Lin, the married father of two young children; his nephew said, "Everyone feels bad, like sick. It's very hard." more ›

Rep. Jerrold Nadler predicts the FAA's new rules for the Hudson River air corridor will make the situation worse, and Senator Chuck Schumer says the FAA needs to "go back to the drawing board." On Wednesday the FAA released its redesign plan, which, as you surely know, was prompted by the August 8th collision between a small plane and a sightseeing helicopter. While the new rules call for reorganizing air traffic over the Hudson into three separate altitude corridors, some critics still want air traffic controllers to start managing all flights over the Hudson. Currently pilots flying under 1,100 feet and over the river avoid each other simply by looking out the cockpit window; that "see and avoid" method will continue, though augmented by enhanced radio communication between aircraft. Despite the fierce criticism, Mayor Bloomberg expressed lukewarm support for the changes yesterday, telling reporters, "I'm just not going to second guess [Administrator Randy Babbitt] or the FAA. I'll ride with whatever the FAA judgment is in terms of making the city safer." See, this is exactly the kind of bold, independent leadership you get when a mayor isn't beholden to the special Interests! more ›

Update 10:30 p.m.: The National Transportation Safety Board says that a total of three bodies have been recovered from the Hudson; it is not clear whether the bodies are from the plane and/or helicopter. The diving recovery operations were called off in evening and will resume in the morning. more ›

A police cruiser responding to a call was T-boned by another car in Bedford-Stuyvesant earlier this morning. The incident occurred at Greene and Lewis Avenues around 3:30 a.m. WCBS 2, whose footage shows the cruiser flipped over, reports, "The two officers were taken to Bellevue Hospital. Two people in the other car were taken to Brookdale Hospital, where they are believed to be in stable condition. According to police, none of the injuries are life threatening. Police said they do not expect to press charges, and the incident was an accident." more ›

Early this morning, a collision between two vehicles in the Pelham Gardens section of the Bronx has left two dead and one critically injured. According to WCBS 2, "Police say a [livery] car driven by a 41-year-old man was struck by a sport utility vehicle at the intersection of Laconia and Waring Avenues in Pelham Gardens just after midnight." WABC 7 says the SUV "t-boned" the car and that witnesses tried to put out the fires from both cars. The livery car's 41-year-old driver died while his passenger, a woman in her 20s, was ejected from the car. Because her body landed beyond a fence, it wasn't detected for 30 minutes. The SUV's driver, 27, was taken to the hospital in critical condition. more ›

Yesterday morning, a fire truck from Ladder 103 rushing to a car fire crashed into a B15 bus on Mother Gaston Boulevard at Hegeman Avenue in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn. The Daily News reports, "The vehicles hit with such force that the bus, its windshield shattered and front end crushed, careened onto the sidewalk and into concrete barriers alongside an apartment building." A witness also said, "It sounded like a crumpled beer can," while others said it sounded like an explosion. The injured included six firefighters, the bus driver, 24 bus passengers and one pedestrian (no one was critically injured). The incident is being investigated; it's unclear which vehicle had the right of way. more ›

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The FAA made immediate changes to the take off and landing procedures at JFK Airport, after two jets came within 600 feet of crashing into each other yesterday afternoon. The incident was the second near collision at the airport in a week, and personnel from the National Transportation Safety Board were at JFK investigating the circumstances of the first incident when the second occurred. more ›

Shortly before 2 this afternoon, three ships collided in Newark Bay, closing the bay to marine traffic. The three-way collision was between two dredging vessels, the 117-foot Melvin Lemmerhirt and the New York, and the 669-Foot Liberian tanker Orange Sun. The Orange Sun is reported to be carrying orange juice as its cargo. Reports also say the New York is taking on water, that there is a fluid leaking from one of the ships (presumably, not orange juice), and there's hydraulic fluid leaving a sheen on the waters nearby. The juice-filled Orange Sun is being brought back to harbor via tugboat. more ›

A nine-year-old girl remains in critical condition following surgery yesterday at Long Island Jewish Hospital after an unregistered van carrying school children was struck by a city bus. The accident occurred Friday morning allegedly after the passenger van cut off a Q46 bus in Fresh Meadows, Queens. The bus clipped the van, sending it into a spin, shattering its windows, and ejecting a bench seat into the street. more ›

Earlier this morning, an MTA bus collided with a school van transporting children in Fresh Meadows, Queens. Details of the accident are thin, but initial reports say that up to 9 people are injured, most of which are children. The collision occurred just after 8 a.m. when the Q46 bus struck the van. The FDNY says that two critically injured children were sent to Long Island Jewish Hospital with one other child. Three other children were sent to Mary Immaculate Hospital and two more people were taken to Queens General Hospital and to New York Hospital Medical Center of Queens. more ›