Watch CBS News

Video: 'Speeding' Snow Plows Damage Cars, Endanger Customer At LI Dealership

EAST ISLIP, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- It's just the beginning of winter, and one Long Island man is already calling on the state to tell snow plow drivers to "slow down," after several cars on his car dealership lot ended up with several bumps and bruises.

Surveillance video shows a plow pushing snow off the south service road on Sunrise Highway before Heckscher State Parkway and blasting it onto vehicles at A No. 1 Autos in East Islip, CBS2's Raegan Medgie reported.

One plow moved so fast, the force of the snow actually moved some of the vehicles.

"You're not supposed to be going 50-60 miles an hour on a service road," Michael Sheehan, Of A No. 1 Autos, said.

An hour later, a customer at the auto shop was looking at a minivan when the plow returned to the scene -- this time, pushing a wave of snow right towards the customer.

"Unfortunately, somebody can get hurt one day, the plows are going so fast they threw snow and ice all over the place," Sheehan said.

On Saturday, owner of A No. 1 Autos got a call from his employee that snow plows damaged some vehicles on the lot.

"I was upset, I thought what if someone gets hurt, I'd be liable, the state would be liable and then we'd all have big problems," Sheehan said. "That was my concern, I don't want to see anyone hurt."

While CBS2 was on the scene Wednesday, so was a local body shop owner helping to give estimates on the damage.

"I've looked at 13 vehicles in line with the plows I would say seven to eight of them right now show significant damage," Matthew Vanflorcke, of East Side Collision, said. "Others, we have to go through them to see if there's stone damage from the actual impact as the plows drove past."

According to Vanflorcke, the damage could cost as much as $3,000 per vehicle.

There was more damage about a mile away on the north side of the Sunrise Highway.

"And all the fence is twisted over there, cracked down there, cracked, broke, I'm sick of replacing it," Elliot Waldholz said.

Waldholz's home is along the Sunrise Highway's service road, multiple times over the years he's repaired parts of the fence with plywood and has now reinforced it in other spots.

"I have to keep it to support the fence, because every time they shovel the snow it plows into my fence and knocks everything down," he said.

He realized his property was damaged on Saturday, after he found his dogs Toby and Jasmine running on the highway.

The speed limit is 45 mph.

"They're definitely going faster than that," Waldholz said. "If you look at that guy's video you can see how they're flying down the road."

It's hope that the video will be enough of a reason for snow plow drivers to be forced to slow down. CBS2 has been told that plow trucks should be going under the speed limit which is 45 mph at that location.

The New York State Department of Transportation said they were looking into the incident.

 

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.