Yesterday, elderly drivers wreaked havoc in Brooklyn and Queens—in one instance, a 79-year-old struck three teens while driving against traffic in Brownsville while an 80-somethig driver crashed her Mercedes Benz into a Little Neck deli, trapping a customer under the vehicle. A deli worker said, "It was like a gust of air went past my face. We heard a crash and I turned around. She [the motorist] missed me by a foot — near death."
In the Queens crash, the Post says a customer, pinned under the Mercedes, was freed by firefighters; she's in "critical but stable condition with non-life threatening injuries to her head and legs." The driver was also taken to a hospital or observation, but—surprise, surprise—she probably won't be charged.
As for the Brooklyn incident, the Daily News reports, "The 79-year-old was spotted driving against traffic on Dumont Ave. in a 1996 Mercury van before he jumped a curb and hit a cable box at Rockaway Ave. in Brownsville about 6 p.m.... The aging motorist then jammed the gearshift into reverse and sped across the intersection - hopping onto the sidewalk and hitting three teenagers as they stepped out of a corner store." Then he tried to reverse, but crashed into a parked car. The pedestrians and driver were taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries; the driver—surprise, surprise—"was not expected to be charged." Let the "should the elderly retake drivers' tests" debate begin.
