By Alexander Dworkowitz
A young woman was seriously injured in a four-car accident at Bell Boulevard and 28th Avenue Tuesday afternoon in Bayside at the same intersection where eight children and two adults were hurt on their way to Bible school in a church van Aug. 7.
Furious residents contend the latest accident could have been prevented if a stop sign knocked over in the van crash had been replaced.
As of press time, the 25-year-old woman, whose name was not released, was listed in serious condition with multiple contusions at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset.
In the four-car accident that occurred at about 2:15 p.m., a 1990 blue Buick traveling west on 28th Avenue ran into the front side of a green Ford Explorer traveling north on Bell Boulevard, police said. Police spokesman Sgt. James Foley said the Explorer flipped over several times and landed on top of a 1993 red Toyota driving in front of it. A fourth car, a green Audi, was slightly damaged, he said.
The 25-year-old driver of the Explorer was rushed to North Shore along with the 32-year-old woman driver of the Toyota and a 9-year-old boy. The 32-year-old and the boy suffered minor injuries. The drivers of the Buick and the Audi walked away from the accident uninjured.
No one had been issued any summonses as of press time and police were investigating.
“I hope she didn't die,” said the driver of the Buick who wished to remain unidentified. He said he was driving 30 to 35 miles an hour as he crossed the intersection and hit the Explorer, and he said the woman in the Explorer was driving “a little fast.”
“This is insane!” said Antonella Sasso. Sasso's house was hit by a livery cab in last Monday's accident, causing damage to the house. A van, which collided with the cab, slammed into a stop sign on 28th Avenue, knocking it over.
Had the stop sign been replaced, Tuesday's accident may not have happened, she said.
“They didn't replace it,” said Sasso. “Someone should have been here until the stop sign was put up again.”
“If you don't know the area, you go right through the intersection,” said Nancy Pabon, who works at a medical clinic directly across the street at the accident site, about cars traveling along 28th Avenue.
Kaye Tinkelman, who lives just down the block from the scene, said she tried to help the 25-year-old driver of the Explorer. Trained in emergency services, she realized that any attempt to free the woman might cause further injuries, so she waited for the police and fire department, which she said arrived “almost instantaneously.”
It took about 10 minutes for the firefighters to remove the woman from the car. They were “superb in the way they handled the situation,” she said.
