By Alex Christodoulides
The first van, a glass company vehicle, began to make a right turn into the Arby's parking lot at 175-14 Horace Harding Expressway, just west of Utopia Parkway, at about 1 p.m. Tuesday. When the two vans collided, the U-Haul driver lost control of his vehicle, swerved over the curb and into the restaurant's left plate glass window, according to several witnesses who work next door at the 2000 Car Wash and saw the chain of events unfold.”The van went through the window and pinned several people against the soda machine,” said Mark Fennick, who works at the car wash.The victim, Caroline Leung, 67, of 186th Street in Fresh Meadows, was unable to escape, witnesses said. She was pronounced dead at New York Hospital Queens at 2:05 p.m., police said.”You could see she was very seriously injured,” Fennick said.The driver of the U-Haul was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana, police said, but they did not release any further information.The U-Haul van jutted from the front of the building at an angle even after authorities backed it up so that rescue workers could reach Leung. The vehicle was inside the restaurant as deep as its side mirrors, with shattered glass surrounding it on the sidewalk.”Her husband wasn't as close [to the window] as her, and he was cut with glass” flying into the restaurant from the impact, said James Bishop, another car wash employee.Four other restaurant patrons and passers-by were taken to the same hospital with minor injuries, police at the scene said.The crash impact damaged the interior east wall of the restaurant, and inspectors from the Department of Buildings arrived at the scene to assess the structure's integrity shortly after the ambulances left.A Department of Buildings spokeswoman said buildings inspectors and engineers determined that the building is not in danger of collapse, but issued a vacate order for the entire building.Reach reporter Alex Christodoulides by e-mail at achristodoulides@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 155.
