BY BEN BRACHFELD
& BEN VERDE
A New York City Transit
bus crashed into a townhouse
on Bedford Avenue in Prospect
Lefferts Gardens on June
7, injuring more than a dozen
people, according to Fire Department
offi cials.
Department reps say their
units responded at 1:55 pm to
a report of a bus crashing into
a house on the corner of Lincoln
Road.
Multiple passengers of
the southbound B49 bus were
loaded onto an FDNY bus to be
inspected for injuries, according
to the department. At least
16 people were being treated
for non-life-threatening injuries
as of 4 pm that afternoon,
with 13 people hospitalized.
Despite what looked like
heavy damage, a spokesperson
for the FDNY said Monday
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that he didn’t suspect the home
would need to be torn down.
“As you pull that bus away,
some things may fall but
the overall structure looks
sound,” said Jim Long.
George Cantos, whose car
was also hit by the bus, said he
saw the public transport try
and switch lanes at Bedford
and Lincoln because there was
a fl atbed truck blocking the intersection,
but it lost control
and hit the truck, and then the
building, pinning Cantos’ car
against a tree.
“He just lost control,” Cantos
told reporters at the scene.
Cantos’ partner Darius
Jones, 33, who works with him
at a window and door installation
company, jumped into action,
helping to open the back
door of the bus and free the
passengers trapped inside.
Jones said he saw smoke
A bus crashed into a Bedford Avenue home on June 7. Photo by Ben Brachfeld
and heard people screaming
inside the bus, and worked
quickly, putting the skills of
his trade to work prying open
the door.
Elena, a resident of the
Lincoln Road townhouse that
was hit by the bus, said she
heard screams and then a loud
“crunch”and a slow rumbling
before running to the window
of her top-fl oor apartment and
discovering the chaotic scene
below. While Elena, who did
not give reporters her last
name, said she would probably
have to fi nd a new place to live,
she’s grateful it wasn’t worse.
“I’m really grateful to be
alive,” she said. “No one got
hurt, it’s just inconvenience
and money.”
Department of Buildings
inspectors determined that
the building was no longer
safe for occupation and issued
an order to vacate for all residents,
providing them with
emergency housing while
their investigation continues.
As of Wednesday, the bus
was still in the house due to
structural concerns.
One neighbor said she
spoke to the driver of the bus
immediately after the crash.
Andrea Clarke, 60, who
lives across Lincoln Road and
noted that the same building
had been hit by a car 20 years
earlier, said the driver seemed
“dazed” and had a cut on his
hand, and that he told her his
foot got stuck in between the
accelerator and the brake.
“It’s mind-blowing,” Clarke
said. “It’s a miracle no one was
hurt.”
BUS CRASHES
INTO PLG HOME
More than a dozen injured,
witness frees stuck passengers
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