Updated Monday, Feb. 17, 12:00 p.m.
Several customers were injured after a New York City Department of Sanitation plow truck sent a trash can of snow and ice into a Forest Hills restaurant Thursday night.
Diners were sitting in Exo Cafe, at 70-20 Austin St., about 10:55 p.m. when the accident damaged the restaurant’s winter vestibule and shattered some of its windows, according to Elias Kalogiros, the establishment’s owner.
Police said the city plow truck hit the garbage can, which then struck the vestibule.
A 36-year-old man and a 27-year-old woman were taken to the hospital with minor injuries, according to the NYPD.
“We were really upset about what happened. We thought it was complete negligence,” Kalogiros said.
“If somebody was standing inside of the vestibule…they would have got hurt or even died.”
The truck driver, who said he didn’t know what had happened, kept going, but was flagged down, according to Kalogiros.
Kalogiros wasn’t at the restaurant at the time of the incident, but was able to see it later through surveillance video.
“It looked from the video that [the plow truck] was reckless,” he said.
In a statement, the Department of Sanitation said it conducted an investigation into the accident and “is taking disciplinary action against the operators of the equipment.”
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