By Joe Anuta
A sanitation worker who had been on the job less than a year was killed after the car he was driving smashed into several parked vehicles and an electronics shop along Atlantic Avenue early Saturday morning.
Police believe Dominick Bunch, 24, fled from an earlier fender bender in Brooklyn before his smashed-up 2010 Toyota was left near the corner of 88th Street, police said.
Residents in an apartment building near the corner said they awoke to a loud crash around 3 a.m., when police said the male driver hit several parked cars and a livery cab before flipping his own vehicle, killing him and injuring a female passenger.
Bunch’s car first hit a tree and an SUV, sending it up on the sidewalk, according to neighbors.
“The only thing that saved the car from hitting our house was the tree,” said resident Carmen Parretta.
Bunch then hit another SUV so hard that it also jumped onto the sidewalk and slammed into the front of an electronics store, Stereo Upgrade.
“We can’t open the front gate,” said Keith Cutolo, a friend of the owner. “And we won’t know the extent of the damage until we can.”
Cutolo said the parked car dented the metal pull-down gate and may have compromised a structural beam in the store.
After slamming into the parked SUV, the Toyota hit a light post and flipped over, Cutolo said.
Police and firefighters arrived and pronounced the Bunch dead at the scene.
The rookie sanitation worker had been in an earlier crash in Brooklyn at the corner of Atlantic Avenue and Crescent Street, according to the NYPD, exactly 1 mile from the accident site. He fled the scene eastbound on Atlantic Avenue, police said.
Neighbors believe the car was being chased by another vehicle, which could not be confirmed by the NYPD.
Reach reporter Joe Anuta by e-mail at januta@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.
