Photo by Ed Hersh.
A white Subaru SUV smashed through the front entrance of Trader Joe’s on 92nd Street and Columbus Avenue on Thursday afternoon at around 1:10 PM.
“According to a cop on the scene, someone was parallel parking and may have hit the gas instead of the brake,” wrote bystander Ed Hersh. “Amazingly, no one was hurt, per this officer.”
Council member Gale Brewer’s team was on the scene and she is speaking with the 24th precinct.
We are awaiting more information and will update this if we learn more.
Update, 4:09 PM: The driver of the car, which has a Massachusetts license plate, was “a 75-year-old woman who lost control of the vehicle while trying to park, causing her to hit the building,” an NYPD spokesperson told the Rag. “A female pedestrian, 69, was struck, and removed to St.Luke’s [Mount Sinai Morningside] hospital. Her condition was not reported. The driver remained at the scene. There didn’t appear to be any criminality involved.”
How the heck is that even possible, even for a Massachusetts driver? They went on the sidewalk, through the scaffolding and into the store backwards like that? Take that person’s drivers license away.
Anything is possible for a Massachusetts driver
hard to end up backwards in the store while parallel parking??
Well, she’s still parallel to something!
In that picture she is clearly perpendicular parking into the store.
Looks like a classic Boston left.
This person needs to have his/her license taken away and be sent back to driving ed.
I cannot for the life of me figure out how you do that. This person needs to take their drivers test again because I have serious doubts they can drive safely.
Many who cannot parallel park well, or at all, do not know how to line up their vehicle to back-into space correctly.
Thus when they reverse and turn wheels to right vehicle ends up at a 45 degree angle or steeper, almost as if they are backing up into a driveway or 45 degree park.
If driver pushes down on accelerator while vehicle is in that position it will zoom back wards with great speed, power and force.
This is more evidence of an obvious point: outside of NYC, no-one actually knows how to parallel park! (Just joking)
When people reach age 75, they should not be able to drive. This happens way too often.
Oh really? Want to take away our right to vote too?
I know plenty of drivers in their 20s and 30s that are horrible drivers. And BTW, my “old” father had to parallel park his 25 year old neighbor’s car only recently, because the 25 year old “didn’t know how to”. May you live so long.
That’s a ridiculous generalization to say that one 75+ should lose their license to drive!
If you want to generalize, then we should disallow all young males from driving as well! They seem to be the most reckless!
However, I wouldn’t disagree that everyone should be required to take a driving test when they reach a certain age (TBD)
Please put into writing that you will cancel your driver’s license when you reach the old age of 75 since 75 seems so very od to you?
I’m know where near that age and I have to say that CZ’s comment is vile. To lump all people into a category like you’ve done is ignorant at a minimum and offensive to all.
*nowhere near
You should check the actual statistics. Not everyone who hits age 75 automatically becomes incompetent. Outside of NYC (or any city) where there’s no public transportation people need to drive, not just for a living but to get through their daily lives. There are cross-country truck drivers who continue to work in their 70’s and 80’s.
I don’t believe she was parallel parking. I go to that store all the time. There are always trucks unloading in the front. You can’t even get near that entrance. Something is weird here.
I always have to wait for my Ubers on the corner.
Exactly the same for me. It’s so weird, at that angle, isn’t it? Since the carts lock now, they unlock it and walk me to corner for my Lyft. Nice of them. I can’t figure how she got to that position…plus the fact I was going to walk to TJs that exact time, changed my mind and walked to library instead. Karma.
You can’t park there at 1 pm. It’s reserved for commercial vehicles until 4 pm. So she can’t read in addition to being a terrible driver.
Resident parking permits would solve this problem, she’d have to find a garage like all the other out of state squatters.
What? You think native NY’ers are any better at driving or parking than those from other states? I don’t think so…
Have watched persons driving vehicles with NYS plates attempting to parallel park a Mini Cooper for over ten minutes into a space you could fit the Big Mo.
You can’t park in produce at 1:00?
Thank you for making me laugh hysterically.
Cleanup on aisle sidewalk
Two people were injured. My daughter,a 21-year-old Barnard student, was not treated at the scene but later at urgent care. She was exiting the store when the car came straight at her. She managed to jump partially out of the way but was hit in the hip and right arm.
Hope she quickly recovers.
Masshole!
It’s comforting to know that Gale Brewer’s team is on the scene.
Why??? She and her staff could do nothing. They arrived after the fact for the PR, nothing else. There will be some statements about this or that, but that’s all
Your sarcasm meter is broken
Yes, Gale will probably write some overly complex law that will prevent people from walking on the sidewalk to keep them safe.
There is something very wrong here. Columbus Ave in front of Trader Joe’s is usually cordoned off to allow trucks to unload supplies for the store.
The angle of the SUV looks intentional. The driver needs an evaluation. She should not be driving. Period!!!!
Headline needs to read “SUV DRIVER plows through Trader Joe’s” . It’s not a self driving car.
I remember when my father decided he should no longer drive. How many older people don’t come to that decision themselves, but continue driving when they clearly shouldn’t?
I’m loving all these Detective Lenny Brisko’s up in here thinking there’s something sus about how this accident happened…
I just wish I knew what “sus” meant…..
suspicious. Your wish has been granted, now please give me a dollar.
Briscoe. An acting legend.
This is why I have been saying that they should build a large, plastic barrier between the sidewalk and the street.
This would prevent this type of accident from ever happening again, plus it would eliminate all jaywalking since you would have to go to the corner to cross the street.
My calculations show that it would only cost about $4 trillion dollars and could be completed by about 2110. Not bad.:)
What do ya say, Gale??
This elderly driver should have her license revoked and ordered by a court not to drive anymore pending medical evaluation. Sometimes elderly people no longer have the mental capacity to drive and they endanger others. The car did not jump the curve directly in front of the entrance, there are intact scaffolding bars there. Looks like the driver jumped the curb and drove a considerable distance backwards down the sidewalk and then angled the car into the entrance. Looks like the driver did not have the capacity to drive or she would have hit the breaks long before crashing. (excluding the possibility of break malfunction)
These gas instead of brake situations are not as uncommon as we would hope. Instinctually, when you think you are pressing the brake and the car does not slow down, you press harder on the brake. Since she was pressing on the gas instead of the brake, thinking it was the brake, when she doubled down on the “brake, ” she accelerated much faster.
On a side note, besides the repairs (which her insurance will hopefully cover, how much money did Trader Joe’s lose being closed all that time?
No way to pahk yah cah!
I hope the folks who were injured have a speedy recovery!
Do we know if TJs is still open? Or are they going to be closed for repairs?
Studying photo. This is weird as there are garbage bins in front that appear untouched. Car had to have come from further south, backwards to the north and then crashed, while trying to turn and get out. Also, have any of you considered the possibility driver had a medical incident?
Agree with so many of you that this story makes no sense. There must be security camera footage from the store – I want to see it!
So? Most importantly…has TJ reopened? If not when?
93rd and Columbus (not 92nd).. just sayin 🙂
A lot of ageism here… I see dirt bikers and e bike menaces who are in their 20s… EVERYONE should be tested better— doesn’t have to do with age— idiots come all flavors😜
Indeed. Anyone else notice that ageism is the last totally acceptable form of bigotry in American society?
Looks like ageism is rearing its ugly head in several of these posts. Those who posted them might want to consider the data showing those age groups which cause the greatest number of accidents.
https://aaafoundation.org/rates-motor-vehicle-crashes-injuries-deaths-relation-driver-age-united-states-2014-2015/
“…drivers ages 70-79 had crash rates similar to or lower than those of divers ages 40-59.” And they were lower than the 16-29 year olds, too.
Yes TJ’s is open – I was there earlier today. Plywood over the door – I wondered why – thanks West Side Rag for explanation.
It’s not ignorant and offensive. It’s common sense. At a certain age, people should not drive. And yes, I would surrender my license at age 75.
In my first five years with a driver’s license, I had three accidents. In the sixty years since, none. …Except when that deer hit me last year…it was his fault!
Maybe she was going into the drive through pick up.
Thank God no one was seriously hurt or killed.
These sort of incidents happen far more frequently than many realize. In this case we should be thankful things weren’t much worse.
https://nypost.com/2013/12/06/car-crashes-into-trader-joes/
Thing is modern motor vehicles are quite powerful, even mid-sized sedans, and certainly SUVs of all sorts. Thus when accelerator is slammed down (for any reason), vehicles will go from zero to zoom rather quickly.
Assuming driver isn’t one of those people who live in NYC but has their vehicle registered elsewhere, she managed to drive that big MB SUV from MA to NYC without issues. So much for elderly being bad drivers….
For those not used to doing so parallel parking, especially in Manhattan can be an ordeal.
Looks like a Subaru, not MB. Otherwise you are correct.
Great to have a drive through option.
Years ago while living in MA, I saw some crazy drivers, but this is a new and astounding first.
Any scheme to test older or any persons to keep their drivers licenses is doomed to failure.
First and foremost contravening NYS law hundreds of residents continue to renew their out of state drivers licenses. People who have lived in NYS for decades still maintain NJ, PA, MA or licenses from wherever they were originally licensed.
Even when such drivers are cited judges routinely dismiss such charges (and fines) saying “no one cares about that…).
Next there are also hundreds who drive into NYC daily for employment, entertainment, visiting family, and so forth. Requiring NYS drivers to be retested will not affect this group either.
SUVs are built on truck beds. They are heavy! They protect their drivers and passengers very well. Not so much pedestrians! Because they are heavy a driver who is of a small build, light weight, and not very strong, such as an older person, or shorter, slight person like a teen, often cannot control it or stop it fast enough, especially in a tense situation. Parallel parking for most non-NYC drivers is such a situation as is stopping at a “turning” red light. SUV drivers should require truck licenses!
Cars are a menace and should be banned entirely from most UWS streets.