CRASH HURTS 3
SUV slams into storefront medical center in Queens
Queens shopkeepers and residents raced to the rescue when a silver SUV hopped a curb, slammed into the front of a dialysis center and burst into flames, trapping three people inside the vehicle Saturday morning.
“All I heard was boom! I turned around and next thing you know, a pole fell,” witness Patrick Bellanton said, describing the 9:50 a.m. crash near the corner of 173rd St. and Hillside Ave. in Jamaica Hills. “I was like ‘Wow! Where the f—- did that boom come from?’ ”
Bellanton quickly learned the boom was the SUV as it veered onto the sidewalk, took out a street pole and sideswiped the front facade of DaVita Kidney Care, taking down the center’s security shutters in the process.
Within moments, the car caught fire with the three people trapped inside.
Edgar Saurez, a worker at the nearby Dollar Up store, jumped into action as soon as he saw the crash. He and another Good Samaritan pulled an elderly woman, who had suffered a broken leg and couldn’t walk, out of the back of the burning car. “The car was on fire and you only have a few minutes,” Saurez, 33, said. “I needed to help so I helped, I wasn’t even thinking, I ran and I helped.”
As he helped the woman, Saurez thought of two close friends who recently perished in a similar fiery car crash.
At the time, no one was around to help his dying friends, he said.
“I feel like I was doing something for the people,” said Saurez.
The injured woman couldn’t communicate properly and appeared to be in a state of shock, Saurez recalled.
“I was nervous because I had to act quickly,” he said. ” I never saved a person like that.”
Medics rushed two of the vehicle occupants to North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, L.I. The third was taken to Jamaica Hospital. None of the injuries appeared life-threatening, officials said.
Cops were investigating what sparked the crash Saturday. Witnesses said the SUV was speeding before it careened into the dialysis center.
As emergency crews cleaned up the mess, a bus shelter near the scene happened to display a Vision Zero poster that read: “Was it worth it? Slow down.”
“He was flying through the street,” said one witness, who would only identify himself as Chaz. “He must have fallen asleep or lost control. He had to have been intoxicated.”