The driver of an Uber SUV hopped the curb and barreled into a storefront on Sixth Avenue just north of 17th Street, injuring four, on Monday afternoon, NYPD reports.
The driver "was going around another vehicle" before he or she jumped the curb, the NYPD said. It's not clear if the injured were pedestrians or the SUV's passengers.
One witness, who provided the above photo, said she and her coworkers rushed to their sixth-floor window after hearing a loud "thud" from the street and saw one person being taken away in a stretcher and another two being treated by medical personnel on the ground.
The collision occurred at around 2:35 p.m. across the street from P.S. 340. The city's school-zone camera program expired last week because the GOP-controlled State Senate refused to reauthorize them before going out of session. It is unclear if P.S. 340 had one of the 140 cameras.
The driver was apparently going at a high rate of speed because he or she jumped not only Sixth Avenue's parking lane, but also its bike lane. Keeping with its pattern of protecting drivers, NYPD attempted to exonerate the driver, with a department spokesperson saying that the driver "was carrying a sick passenger.”
Activists weren't having any of it.
"Drivers are newly emboldened to break the law" because of the end of speed cameras, Transportation Alternatives Executive Director Paul Steely White said.
"This is what happens when there are no consequences for speeding drivers. This is what happens when you turn off every speed enforcement camera in New York City," White added. "Senate Republicans should be reconvening and passing a bill to reinstate and expand New York City's life-saving speed camera program, but instead they'll spend Tuesday at a country club just minutes from the state capitol."
