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Video Shows Driver Crashing Into Outdoor Diners In Sunset Park
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jul 23, 2020
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Jul 23, 2020
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At least three people were injured after a truck driver ran into outdoor dining seating in Sunset Park this week.
A police spokesperson says the incident happened just after 8 p.m. on Tuesday at L’Wren bar on Fifth Avenue near 41st Street. The 22-year-old driver of a Ford pickup truck slammed into the outdoor restaurant dining area, injuring three people. A 50-year-old man, a 20-year-old woman, and a 24-year-old woman were all transported to Lutheran Hospital for minor injuries.
Police add that the driver remained at the scene, and was issued a summons for driving without a license. His name was not released.
"I honestly never thought any of this stuff would happen, you know we built the barrier pretty tough to where if it does happen they would be protected," Travis Klas, the bar's owner, told ABC. "Extremely fortunate for everybody, you know, that the guy driving, that would have been terrible for him to seriously hurt someone, it would have been terrible for everyone."
Over 9,000 restaurants around the city have been given approval to open up outdoor dining since the Open Restaurants initiative started last month; they are required to place an 18-inch barrier between diners and traffic. However, these barricades are often just planters, and not sturdy enough to slow or stop a vehicle.
A little over a week ago, a driver "hit the accelerator instead of the brakes," crashing through the outdoor dining area of the 12 Corazones Restaurant and Bar on Roosevelt Avenue in Queens. Four diners and a waitress were injured in that incident.
Yesterday, Transportation Alternatives released a report identifying some of the flaws with the city's Open Streets/Open Restaurants plan. Among their recommendations to improve the program was to put more Open Restaurant seating on the streets, not the sidewalks, and to close more of those streets to drivers.
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Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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