An MTA bus driver is dead Wednesday morning after a stolen truck collided with the M14D city bus, sending the two vehicles onto a Greenwich Village sidewalk near West 14th St. and Seventh Ave.
The accident happened at the intersection at 5:30 a.m., reports The New York Daily News. The vehicles hit the sidewalk scaffolding and a subway entrance before finally coming to a stop.
Fire officials told The New York Times that four people were also injured, including one suffering critical injuries. Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesman Kevin Ortiz added that two of those injured were bus passengers.
The driver of the stolen truck is in custody and being treated at the Bellevue Hospital Center. Police are questioning the driver, but they have not charged him yet.
“I thought it was an earthquake,” witness Michael Edwards told the Daily News. “By the time I got outside police were already here. I was just trying to figure out what happened.”
The name of the bus driver was William Pena, who was pronounced dead at the scene. He had been driving MTA buses since 1996. TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen told the Daily News that it was a “terrible tragedy.”
Deputy Fire Chief Jim Hodgens told the media that the crash is under investigation and it the crash site is a crime scene.
MTA bus and truck still lodged in scaffolding in West Village. Police source says truck was stolen. pic.twitter.com/mSitLqnaem
— Mike Balsamo (@MikeBalsamo1) February 12, 2014
image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
