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Car impaled after beam falls of 7 line
MTA conducts investigation after wooden pillar nearly kills man in Woodside
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
Imagine driving your
car down Roosevelt Avenue
in Woodside and suddenly
seeing a wooden plank
falling off the elevated 7
line above and smashing
through your windshield.
That’s the horrifying
experience one driver
had last week — and
somehow managed to
walk away from the
ordeal unscathed.
Police said the incident
occurred Feb. 21 at
12:28 p.m. in the area of
Roosevelt Avenue and
65th Street.
According to law
enforcement sources, the
unidentified driver was
behind the wheel of an
SUV heading westbound
on Roosevelt Avenue when
the wooden beam fell off
the 7 line superstructure
above and impaled
the vehicle.
City Councilman
Jimmy Van Bramer
released extraordinary
photos of the damage, with
the wooden beam sticking
out of the top of the window
near the passenger side of
the vehicle. If someone
had been sitting there,
Van Bramer indicated
chances are the passenger
would have been seriously
injured, or even killed, by
the beam.
Miraculously, cops said
the driver was unharmed
and did not require any
medical assistance. Even
so, Van Bramer said the
frightening episode is
another example of the
poor state of the MTA’s
infrastructure.
“Thankfully the driver
was not injured, but
someone could have been
killed,” Van Bramer said
in a statement. “There
must be an immediate
investigation into how
something this dangerous
could happen. MTA must
answer for our crumbling
subway infrastructure
before a tragedy occurs.”
Sources familiar with
the investigation said that
there was no construction
on the 7 line in the area
where the beam fell.
Service on the 7 line was not
affected by the incident.
The MTA is looking
into how and why the beam
fell. After a preliminary
observation, sources said,
the MTA determined that
the wood appears to have
fallen “from a worker or
supply platform” installed
below the tracks “years
ago.” The platform has
been dismantled and
removed, and workers
are now checking the
rest of the elevated 7 line
structure for similar
platforms; every other
elevated structure will
also be checked for these
temporary platforms in
the days to come.
“We take this incident
extremely seriously,
are conducting a full
investigation into what
happened, have personnel
ensuring the rest of the
area is safe, and are
relieved that no one was
injured,” according to an
MTA spokesperson.
Reach reporter Robert
Pozarycki by e-mail at
rpozarycki@qns.com or by
phone at (718) 224-5863 ext.
204.
A wooden beam fell off the 7 line in Woodside and crashed through the windshield of an SUV on Feb. 21.
Courtesy of City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer
Vol. 7 No. 9 52 total pages
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