ISLANDIA, N.Y. (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) -- A man was killed and multiple people injured Monday when an apparently out-of-control New York City garbage truck plowed into cars and a school bus at a Suffolk County intersection, police and witnesses said.
The horrifying crash in Islandia shortly before 9 a.m. left some vehicles barely recognizable at Motor Parkway and Express Drive South, just south of the Long Island Expressway.
The manager of a nearby Sunoco gas station said it appears the truck driver lost control after the brakes failed, sending the truck barreling into a Nissan sedan, a Toyota Matrix, a Jeep and a county school bus that were stopped at a light.
Police didn't immediately confirm the events leading up to the crash.
"You can see the truck didn't even stop, it just kept pushing the cars out of the way," the manager said.
The truck finally came to a halt when it became wedged inside of a Jeep.
A 25-year-old man in the Nissan died, according to police, who said most of the other victims suffered minor injuries.
The Sunoco manager said he heard a loud "bang" and went outside to find the mangled cars scattered along the service road. He saw someone pulling a woman out of the Jeep and helped get her onto the grass.
He said he's seen plenty of accidents here in the past "but not this bad."
"This is crazy, they've got to do something about this intersection," he said. "It's very dangerous. Every other week there's an accident over here."
The truck was reportedly a brand new vehicle for the New York City Department of Sanitation.
The Sanitation Department told WCBS-TV that the custom-made truck was being driven by a private vendor and was not yet in their possession at the time of the crash.
Related
Related
Related
