Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In
Carnage

Paging James Vacca: Curb-Jumper Injures Senior Citizen on 5th Ave Sidewalk

Can we get a James Vacca City Council hearing on this?

A man in his eighties was seriously injured today when an SUV driver jumped the curb and slammed into Saks Fifth Avenue in Midtown a little before 11 a.m. Gothamist reports that the victim was walking by the store at the time and was taken to Bellevue in stable condition.

Even though Fifth Avenue has some of the most crowded sidewalks in the Western Hemisphere, the driver who careened off the road was immediately exonerated by NYPD, who told Gothamist there's "no criminality suspected."

At least six pedestrians were killed by curb-jumping motorists in NYC last year. Those victims were all 58 years or older. Given the prevalence of traffic violence -- more than 10,000 NYC pedestrians are hurt by motorists every year -- it's likely that hundreds of other New Yorkers were injured while on the sidewalk in 2012.

Thanks to reader Liz Patek for sending in the photo from the scene.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Here’s Everything Wrong With the Judge’s Order to Rip Up the 31st Street Protected Bike Lane

A Queens judge overstepped her jurisdiction when she ordered the city to rip up a protected bike lane in Astoria, experts said.

December 9, 2025

MTA Still Won’t Embrace Open Gangway Subway Cars

The see-through cars have been standard across the globe for a generation, but to the MTA, it's still untested technology.

December 9, 2025

How Much Will New Yorkers Pay For Trump’s Penn Station Redevelopment Scheme?

New Yorkers could wind up paying twice for the new Penn Station: once when Amtrak comes asking for money and then when a private developer makes their money back from the project.

December 9, 2025

Tuesday’s Headlines: Clearing the Air Edition

We've been clear that congestion pricing is working. Turns out, congestion pricing was, too! Plus other news.

December 9, 2025

NYPD Finds Mysterious Corpse in Car With Illegal Tints Parked at a Hydrant Near Stationhouse

The discovery is a gruesome demonstration of the NYPD's systemic failure to enforce parking rules around its own station houses.

December 8, 2025

Who Rides on the Sidewalk? To NYPD, Just Blacks and Hispanics

The NYPD has ramped up its enforcement against cyclists for squeezing pedestrians, but in a very suspect manner.

December 8, 2025
See all posts