Just before 5:30 p.m. this afternoon, a car crashed into a store on Canal Street by Greene. According to the FDNY, the driver was extracted and taken to Bellevue Hospital. However, the store's owner was taken to the hospital as well, according to her husband, Chong Lama, who told Gothamist, "I heard BOOM and saw the car there smoking. We couldn't get out!"
Apparently the driver jumped the curb and headed straight into the store, which sells tourist souvenirs. The structural integrity of the store, located 314 Canal Street, is being inspected by the Department of Buildings.
Lama also said that five people were in the store, but no customers. One employee Jahir Rahman says he would have been killed had he not gone to bathroom because he sits in the front, selling watches, right where car slammed into the building, "All day I sit right here. I am lucky!"
