Fatal Bruckner Expressway Crash Location "A Real Bad Spot"

Jen Chung

Published Dec 5, 2009

Modified Dec 5, 2009

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Jen Chung

Published Dec 5, 2009

Modified Dec 5, 2009

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Some more details have emerged about yesterday afternoon's three-car accident on the Bruckner Expressway that claimed the life of a SUV driver and left former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw unharmed but shaken. According to the Daily News, the SUV driver, "A police source said [Suejaes] Estrada, of the Bronx, was speeding. It was unclear whether she was wearing a seat belt."

Brokaw and his wife issued a statement about the incident, stating that the SUV was apparently trying to avoid hitting a spool of cable that bounced into its lane. The SUV veered left, into the middle lane, causing a mail truck into the Brokaws' lane: "As the mail truck careened into the Brokaw lane, Tom hit the brakes hard and skidded along the median. When the mail truck catapulted the median the Brokaw vehicle slid into it. Neither Tom nor Meredith were injured but tragically the driver of the SUV was thrown from her vehicle and killed. Tom and Meredith are greatly saddened by this loss of life."

The postal truck and SUV both overturned—Estrada was thrown over the side of the Bruckner onto the Amtrak tracks below, causing delays on Amtrak's Northeast corridor service. The News says Estrada, a car service dispatcher, had the day off and was running out to buy her boyfriend a shirt; her boyfriend was later seen "peering over the railing and onto the tracks where his girlfriend died" and "was inconsolable yesterday. The postal truck driver was treated for trauma (and bumps and bruises) while the Brokaws were not injured.

A driver told MyFoxNY that the Bruckner near the Sheridan Expressway "is a real bad spot. here's always accidents right here." The NY Times reports, "The spool of wire that apparently set off the crash had not been found as of Friday evening, the police said, adding that there was no criminality involved."

Tagged

bronx

Bruckner Expressway

fatal crash

tom brokaw