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1 Dead, Others Seriously Injured In Staten Island Crash

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- One person was killed and several others seriously injured following a crash in Staten Island Sunday afternoon.

The street looked more like a war zone than an accident scene after 10 cars were involved in the fatal chain reaction crash, CBS2's Brian Conybeare reported. Some of the cars were so badly damaged they were unrecognizable with car tires and debris scattered across the intersection of Victory Boulevard and Travis Avenue.

"Mayhem! My girlfriend was screaming... the baby was crying... everybody was screaming out here," accident victim Michael Pave said.

Pave was out on Father's Day with his girlfriend and 13-month-old child. At about 1:45 p.m. they were waiting to turn right at a red light when an elderly woman somehow lost control of her silver sedan that wound up wedged into a red pick-up truck.

Police confirm a 75-year-old man inside an SUV was killed. Witnesses said the elderly woman may have had a medical condition and passed out at the wheel. She was critically injured and rushed to the hospital, while as many as a dozen other people were hurt.

A volunteer emergency unit worker told 1010 WINS' Carol D'Auria the aftermath is the worst he's ever seen. 

Pave said his Father's Day family drive could have easily turned deadly.

"If I would have made a split-second decision to go left instead of right there could've been a serious injury with my baby," he said. "I could've been that car behind me which that guy did die."

The accident happened in a specially designated 25 m.p.h. "slow zone" designed to make the busy road safer.

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