An out-of-control driver injured two construction workers at a Clinton Hill job site roughly one block from where another reckless driver killed a 3-month-old baby in a crime that shocked the city and led to a week of recriminations against the de Blasio administration.
In the Monday afternoon crash, witnesses said a driver was speeding in a BMW — with possibly illegal temporary New Jersey plates — on Clinton Avenue between Greene and Gates avenues when he swerved at high speed to avoid slower car at a construction site. An NYPD source confirmed that a driver "lost control" of his vehicle and then clipped the construction barrier, which then slammed into the two workers.
A video obtained from a neighbor's front porch shows just how quickly the BMW driver was rushing.
A 27-year-old man was injured in his right leg, and a 41-year-old worker complained of rib cage injuries. Both were taken to Methodist Hospital in nearby Park Slope with injuries that are not believed to be life threatening, according to the NYPD source. They are among the more than 33,000 people who have been injured in car crashes so far this year — roughly 130 people are injured every single day.
"The driver was impatient with a stopped car in the southbound lane, and sped to go past it, then swerved to avoid a head-on," one witness told Streetsblog. "He clearly was at least 20 mph over the limit [and] lost control of the car."
Speeding and swerving is common in Clinton Hill because the avenues don't have nearly enough residential loading zones due to opposition from Council Member Laurie Cumbo.
"I’ve seen [that kind of speeding on Clinton Avenue] hundreds of times in the last 18 months," the witness said.
There have been 118 crashes on the short stretch of Clinton Avenue between Park Avenue and Atlantic Avenue since 2019, injuring seven cyclists, six pedestrians and 38 motorists, according to city records. The avenue was supposed to be redesigned for safety in 2016, but that was also opposed by Cumbo. The area is home to many young families and has relatively low car ownership compared to city averages. Nearly 63 percent of households in Clinton Hill do not have access to a car.
The NYPD said that no summonses were issued to the driver.
The crash came just nine days after the fatal collision that killed Apolline Mong-Guillemin, a 3-month-old who was being pushed by her mom in a stroller on Vanderbilt Avenue when a reckless driver with a long history of moving violations drove the wrong way on Gates Avenue and collided with another car, sending both vehicles into the victims.
It later turned out that the de Blasio administration failed to get the driver off the road, despite him being arrested at least several times for driving with an invalid license, in addition to his thousands of dollars of unpaid parking and moving violation summonses.
