By Michael Shain
A speeding car slammed into the back of a bus carrying a group of special-needs adults Wednesday near Forest Park, police said.
The driver appeared to have been seriously injured in the crash shortly after 4 p.m. on Woodhaven Boulevard and 81st Road in Glendale. Cops called for special life-support equipment after pulling the male driver from the wreckage, according to Breaking News, the news service that monitors police radio traffic.
Nine people riding on the white, chartered school bus were also reported injured in the first radio calls. The bus from Brooklyn Transportation Corp. had been specially modified with most of its seats cleared to make space for wheelchairs that could be secured to the floor.
Several hours after the accident, police had not released any information on the condition of the victims or the name of the day-care facility where the bus had picked up its passengers.
But neighbors who live on the busy stretch of Woodhaven Boulevard said none of the passengers appeared to be badly hurt. One witness said the car had been speeding on the six-lane highway when it hit the back of the bus.
The rear left side of the bus showed signs of a serious accident with the bumper twisted up and the back end of the transport caved in.
The accident, meanwhile, shut down bustling Woodhaven Boulevard, a major north-south route in central Queens, in the middle of the evening rush hour. North-bond traffic was blocked off for more than two hours and cars on cross-street Union Turnpike were backed up for more than a mile and a half.
