A SMASHED UP car is seen on Jerome Avenue by East 198th Street in Bedford Park after it reportedly collided with an MTA bus at 6.10 a.m. on Friday morning, May 12, 2023. Video courtesy of a local resident

One man was hospitalized and two people allegedly left the scene of a reported two-vehicle road accident which occurred in Bedford Park early on Friday morning under the elevated train tracks of the 4 train.

 

A police spokesperson told Norwood News the collision occurred at Jerome Avenue by East 198th Street in Bedford Park after on Friday morning, May 12, at 6.10 a.m.

 

The police spokesperson from the press office said he only had preliminary information on the collision, but said according to his report, there was a collision at the location involving two vehicles. “Seems like a vehicle that fled was traveling southbound along Jerome Avenue, collided with the other vehicle. The driver of the first vehicle went to Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center.”

 

The NYPD press team was unable to confirm at the time we spoke to them if one of the vehicles involved in the collision was an MTA bus. However, a damaged MTA bus was seen in pictures obtained by Norwood News from local residents / workers in the area at the scene of the collision, along with one other badly damaged car.

 

Referring to the hospitalized driver, the spokesperson continued, “I don’t know the extent of his injuries.”

 

He added, “The second vehicle involved for the location…. well, the driver fled the location in an unknown direction on foot.” Asked if police could clarify if it was the driver of the car who fled the location or the driver of the bus who fled the location, the spokesperson said he was unable to confirm as the investigation was still preliminary and the police report was not yet finalized.

 

The spokesperson added that he believes the person who was transported to Columbia hospital was transported by ambulance but could not be sure as again the report was not yet finalized.

 

Norwood News contacted the MTA for a comment on the status of the bus driver and on the collision itself. A spokesperson responded, saying, “At approximately 6:19 a.m., a Bx28 bus was involved in an incident at East 198^th St and Jerome Ave.” The agency deferred to the NYPD press team for more details.

Norwood News spoke to a worker, Levan Vashakidze, who was working outside on the street by the scene of the collision at the time it occurred. Through his colleague, George Abuladze, who translated Vashakidze’s account of what happened, Vashakidze told Norwood News, “He told this small car with a more speed limit, a big speed limit, was this way and the bus this way.” Gesturing, Abuladze indicated that the car was traveling south along Jerome Avenue and the bus was traveling north.

 

As the accident took place at a junction, we asked if the bus had been actually exiting East 198th Street and turning onto Jerome Avenue at the time and if perhaps it was swinging out onto the other side of Jerome Avenue to make the turn. Abuladze said, “No, no, no… no turn.” He said the bus was just traveling along Jerome Avenue normally and that it was the car that crossed over into the opposite side of Jerome Avenue from the one it had been traveling on, and hit the bus. “Big crush,” he said.

 

Asked if the bus was full, Abuladze said, “No, only driver.” Asked if the police and the ambulance came quickly, he said, “Yeah, after around 3 to 5 minutes,” adding that he, himself, [Abuladze] also arrived to work at the location around the same time.

 

Asked if he saw anyone injured, he said, “No, no, no, no-one.” We said this seemed surprising given the apparent severity of the crash. We asked again referring to both drivers. Abuladze, who is from Georgia, apologized, saying his English was not perfect, and said, “He got out himself. He doesn’t need help.”

We later spoke to a number of local employees but most had not been open at their place of work when the accident happened and did not have any information. The camera of one local deli did not capture the accident on video as the camera faced East 198th Street rather than onto Jerome Avenue.

 

One other local man, Manuel Arias, who did not witness the accident but saw the aftermath told us what he had seen and what he said he had been told by other residents who were at the scene. “I was coming with my grandson… I don’t know maybe between 6.30 and 7 in the morning. What I saw was a horrible accident. The car was under the bus. One tire, the driver’s side tire was down under the bus right away and the car jumped you know and went [inaudible] all the way up, and did exactly what it was…. blast car that it is.”

 

Arias added, “I think someone was saying those guys or three guys…they come out… one, the one who was driving, was very, very injured in the legs and they went out.” Asked if he was referring to the occupants of the car rather than the bus, he said, “That’s what the people who witnessed it say.”

Asked if he had seen or heard how the occupant got out even though he was very injured, Arias said, “Oh yeah, they got out and they quick…” Asked if he meant they ran away, the man said, “Yeah, they was not waiting for nobody. They took [him] out his property [the driver] he had in the car and say ‘bye’. They go back, getting something, and they keep going.”

 

Asked if he knew if any of the occupants of the car were present when the police arrived, Arias alleged the police didn’t arrive until later, saying, “No, the police arrived like one hour after. Nobody was coming. I didn’t see no emergency, no one, police, no one, MTA, no one. They come like an hour and a half later.”

 

Asked if he knew or had heard anything about the bus driver, Arias said his neighbor who he had spoke to about the incident had been in a rush and didn’t know anything about the bus driver.

 

We also spoke to Hector, an employee of the parking lot located on the other side of Jerome Avenue from where the accident occurred. Speaking in Spanish, he said he was inside his cabin earlier on Friday morning and heard the impact of the collision but didn’t see the accident occur. “I went out and I saw two people getting out of a car,” he said.

Asked if he saw where they went to, he said they went south on Jerome Avenue. We asked if they were running, he said no, that they were walking. Asked to describe the two, he said they were young. We asked if he saw the driver of the bus injured, Hector said, “I saw nobody injured.”

 

Hector also alleged the ambulance arrived later than expected at the scene. Asked how late, he said, “Like after one hour.” We asked how soon the police arrived, he said, “The same, but I was inside.” He later said he did not immediately go outside after the accident took place. He said when he did go out, he saw a lot of people gathering around the scene but for the most part, he was busy inside working as people were coming and going into the parking lot.

 

Asked about the bus driver, he said he saw the driver of the bus inside the bus and that he seemed to be ok.

 

We contacted the MTA, the FDNY (EMS) and the NYPD for comment on the allegations regarding the arrival times at the scene and also requested details of the injuries from FDNY. We will update this story upon receipt of a response.

 

The FDNY later said they received the call regarding the accident at 7.16 a.m. and that units were assigned to the location for reports of a motor vehicle accident. “One patient was transported to Columbia,” a spokesperson said, adding the person’s condition was unknown.

 

We again asked what time emergency services arrived at the scene. An FDNY spokesperson said they do not routinely provide such information but pledged to see what they could find out.

Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, or on Twitter @NYPDTips.

 

All calls are strictly confidential.

 

Editor’s Note: This story is a preliminary account of the accident and will be further updated upon receipt of the full NYPD report.