Left in neutral – and backward it goes for 3 blocks
AN MTA BUS driver’s third day on the job ended with a crash course in parking.
Rookie Shatima Simmons left the Q58 bus in neutral early Wednesday before she exited the vehicle — and then watched in horror as her empty ride clipped a bystander, several parked cars and a local church.
The runaway 20-ton bus flew backward down three blocks of Palmetto St. in Bushwick, Brooklyn, with the driver screaming and sprinting in frantic pursuit of the vehicle.
“It was an epic moment,” said witness Angelica Salemi, 25, who was drinking beer outside her friend’s home as the incredible scene unfolded before them. “I was like, ‘Holy crap!’ It was at full speed.”
Other witnesses captured the bizarre 12:30 a.m. wreck on their cell phones as the bus rolled into its last stop: a brick wall outside St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church on Knickerbocker Ave.
“I can’t believe this,” a witness heard the driver announce after the crash. “It’s my third day on the job.”
Witness Bennie Garcia, 45, was awakened when the bus smashed into the fence around her property. She burst outside in the darkness to see the bus driver running down the street.
“I saw the bus driver yelling, ‘Help! Help! Please stop the bus!’ ” recalled Garcia. “I couldn’t believe what was happening. I asked ‘Who’s driving?’ But there wasn’t anyone in there.”
The bus slammed into a parked BMW as Nicholas Rivera was putting new headlights into the luxury car, according to witnesses.
Rivera was sent flying about 10 feet on impact, with blood pouring from his nose and mouth after he slammed into an iron gate and slumped to the sidewalk.
“He was lying like he was dead on his back,” said Garcia. “I looked up and saw the bus was still going.” The injured man’s brother Eric Rivera, 21, said Nicholas was treated at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center and released.
“He’s got a busted lip,” said Eric. “He’s just in a lot of pain. He’s very sore.”
The overwrought Simmons, 30, was also taken to an area hospital for observation, witnesses said.
“She was just walking down the street, just very upset, kind of mumbling to herself,” said Eric Rivera.
MTA officials said Simmons was hired April 27, finished training last Thursday and started work this week. She won’t be allowed to drive a bus while the MTA investigates. The incident could cost Simmons her job.
“We are grateful no one was seriously hurt,” said J.P. Patafio, a Transport Workers Union Local 100 vice president.
“She is obviously very, very upset, and we’re going to assist her.”
When the bus finally came to a halt, it mangled St. Paul’s metal fence and a brick column.
A maroon van from a neighboring house of worship was also busted in the wreck.
“My van is damaged completely,” said the Rev. Jose Quintana, pastor of the Iglesia Pentecostal Olivo Verde across the street from St. Paul’s.
The Q58 bus, which operates from Ridgewood to Flushing, was out of service at the time of the accident.