HARLEM, Manhattan (WABC) — Chaos erupted in Harlem Thursday night as an out-of-control driver flew down 125th Street, ramming into vehicles and two cyclists, who appear to be delivery workers.
One 28-year-old cyclist was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai, and the other cyclist, 33, remains in critical condition. Three other people were also injured.
Police have taken the 49-year-old driver into custody. Charges are pending.
Officers responded to a crash that happened around 8 p.m. at West 125th Street and Frederick Douglas Boulevard, just outside the famed Apollo Theater.
Police say a speeding red Hyundai Tucson crashed into vehicles and people, going fast enough to send two delivery workers flying off their bikes, killing one and critically injuring the other.
Three other people were injured while inside vehicles that were struck, including a 40-year-old man driving a RAV4, and a 23-year-old man and 28-year-old man inside a parked Lexus. All three were taken to hospitals in stable condition with complaints of pain.
The Tucson also struck a tractor trailer, and an unoccupied NYPD vehicle, before the driver was pulled out to be treated for injuries and questioned by the police.
The block of 125th Street is between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and Frederick Douglass Boulevard, respectively. This is one of Harlem’s busiest blocks, typically packed with people, buses, cars and bikes at 8 p.m.
There are bus lanes and speed restrictions to keep drivers from speeding, but witnesses say the car was going way too fast and left its lanes and seemed to be out of the driver’s control.
“What I hear was the sliding, hit my car too… I was panicked … I was shocked, it’s like I saw everything in slow motion,” one eyewitness described the moment his car was hit.
A French-speaking vendor saw the whole thing unfold, and described the violent crash to Eyewitness News with the help of a translator.
“It seems like the person lost control of the car,” the witness said. “He was coming from Eighth Avenue, going this way, and he hit the two delivery guys and just went across.”
The witness said he thinks the driver may have been under the influence, or maybe drunk.
Police are still investigating exactly what happened, and charges are pending.
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