IMPALE HORROR
Falling branch spikes B’klyn driver
The driver of a car cruising along the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn Saturday morning was impaled by a tree limb that crashed into his car, police said.
The victim, 38, was heading west near 88th Street when the tree toppled at about 7:45 a.m., smashing through his windshield.
With wood from a large branch piercing his abdomen, the driver’s red minivan swerved, hitting other cars on the road as it barreled along the parkway before crashing into a center median, according to cops and witnesses.
The driver was extricated from the wreckage and rushed to a hospital.
“They took off the windshield and they took off the trunk and the whole entire roof of the car to get the gentleman who was driving,” said Jessica Nocero, who came upon the scene while running along the parkway bike path.
“Huge tree,” Nocero added. “I hope and pray that he’s OK. They had these really big tools that cut into the car. They were prying off parts of the trunk and the side.”
The driver, whom police haven’t identified, was in critical condition at NYU Langone Hospital in Sunset Park Saturday afternoon.
One of the tree’s branches “went right through him” and needed to be surgically removed, according to a hospital staffer on duty when the driver was brought in.
The tree fell from city-owned property, according to the Department of Transportation, which said it inspected the area afterward.
The grim scene disturbed New Yorkers enjoying the outdoors.
“It was demolished,” said John Rantinella, 67, of the car. “The window was all smashed up. The glass was smashed in. It was bad.”
Nocero added, “This poor man is out driving to where he’s trying to get to . . . and something terrible like this happens.”