Cafe nightmare
Car plows into building – diners badly hurt
AN NYPD intern sideswiped a car Thursday morning, sending it smashing through the front of a Brooklyn coffee shop and injuring four people, authorities said.
Police cadet Mark Acevedo, 23, who was interning with the department while attending college classes, failed to properly signal and veered into a gray Dodge Charger, causing that driver to lose control, hop the sidewalk and plow into the plateglass storefront of Civil Service Cafe at Nostrand Ave. and Clifton Place in Bedford-Stuyvesant just after 8:30 a.m.
Acevedo kept driving after muscling the muscle car off the road, but then returned to the scene, authorities charge. Police said they arrested him about 3 p.m. for leaving the scene of an accident and not properly signalling.
Three people, including two customers, suffered serious injuries, while a pedestrian suffered minor injuries, officials said.
The crash was under investigation.
Witnesses say the car seemed to come out of nowhere.
Bodega worker Muhamed Nagi, 20, didn’t see the Charger get sideswiped, but he saw the aftermath.
“He goes straight into the coffee shop. It was like a bomb. A big boom. There was a lot of smoke in the air,” Nagi said. “There were four people hurt. A lady went straight under the car. She was screaming. She was in pain.”
The man driving the Charger, which had Florida tags, appeared to be unharmed.
“The driver, he was OK. He stayed. The cops put him in handcuffs as soon as they arrived.”
Saleh Mufeed, 21, who works in the Natural Deli across the street, said one of the victims had just walked out of his store when he was struck by the car.
Seconds later, he was lying unconscious.
“He came here for coffee, then he was there by the car. He couldn’t move. A lady was screaming for help,” Mufeed said.
“I couldn’t believe it. There was blood everywhere. They tried to move him but his back hurt.”
The crash jolted people on the drizzly Thursday morning, and pedestrians stopped to gawk at the rear of the car sticking out of the cafe’s front. Police taped off the intersection during their investigation.
The owner of Civil Service Cafe, a popular Bed-Stuy mixing spot for newcomers and natives, declined to comment at the scene.
Online reviews give the spot top marks for its drinks and breakfast platters, but it got a C rating in its last Health Department inspection.
Sanitary violations cited by the inspector include mouse droppings, uncovered food and improperly sanitized food prep counters. The place was not properly mouse-proofed and there were uneven and obstructed surfaces that could not be properly cleaned.
Workers interfered with the Health Department crews during the February inspection, according to the department website.