Driver Dies After Apparently Losing Control Of SUV In Sea Gate, Brooklyn
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- At least one person was killed after a sport-utility vehicle smashed into a house in Sea Gate, Brooklyn on Thursday afternoon.
As WCBS 880's Alex Silverman reported, the green Ford Explorer with Florida license plates was wedged in a driveway between two homes in the private, gated community.
Rachel Dresner recalled the sound the SUV made outside her home before her house shook from the impact.
"First I heard screeching tires. Then, moments later, I heard that horrible crash," Dresner told CBS 2's Lou Young.
Driver Dies After Apparently Losing Control Of SUV In Sea Gate, Brooklyn
Two teens who work at the beach club nearby said they saw the SUV with a driver and one passenger accelerate suddenly.
"The car sort of came up to us; not to a complete stop, and out of nowhere floors it going down the block," Mark Hausner said.
The driver made a sharp turn, swerved to miss someone walking on Surf Street and then crashed, witnesses said.
"He hit the curb and lost control, then he hit the stairs and the result was that he went up the stairs and around and right into the house. Yeah, it was something out of a movie," Richard Koonge said.
The SUV flipped on its side and landed in the driveway, Silverman reported.
The impact was so severe the city Department of Buildings had to check for structural damage.
The driver was killed. His passenger was is in stable condition Thursday with head injuries, police said. The dead man's friends told Young they're baffled by what happened.
"This guy was a great driver. I mean he always had control of everything. He was never irresponsible. I mean, this is a really wonderful person. This is just terrible. I mean, he was moving to Florida in October," Bonnie Tischler said.
The community was amazed and grateful there weren't other casualties.
"There are like four kids in that house, four kids in that house and on the whole block there's like 20 kids and would play over there the whole entire day," resident Eliazer Telener said.
"It's a beach club; beach club community summer. There are a lot of people; it could've been a lot worse than it was," Sea Gate Police Sgt. Thomas Shultz added.
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