SUV Driver Loses Control, Injures Four on Sidewalk
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

At 8:30 yesterday morning, hundreds of children crisscrossed the corner of Rutgers and Henry streets on their way to school. An hour later, a driver lost control of his silver RAV4, which flipped onto the sidewalk and slammed into four pedestrians.
The pastor of the Catholic church located at the corner, the Rev. Donald Baker, said it was a terrible accident – the second one he’s witnessed at the intersection in the year he’s been at Saint Teresa’s Church. But he said it could have been much worse.
There are two schools located on the block where the accident took place, P.S. 2, which faces Henry Street, and Mesivtha Tefereth Jerusalem, which faces East Broadway.
“Good Lord, if this had happened a little earlier, there could have been children everywhere,” he told The New York Sun yesterday afternoon, standing a foot or two from where the sports utility vehicle slid to a stop on the lower leg one of his parishioners.
Four people were taken to the hospital after yesterday morning’s accident. One, a pregnant woman, was in critical condition.
The driver of the vehicle, who police said originally ran from the scene, was questioned yesterday and released without being charged. His name was withheld.
As it turns out, the block’s hazards were already recognized, leading to its being listed by the city among the worst school danger zones. The list of schools whose surrounding streets and sidewalks pose the greatest danger appeared in yesterday’s Sun. The city’s Department of Transportation used a formula to locate the schools surrounded by the most hazardous streets. It plans to install signs and lights, build elevated medians, and make other traffic-flow changes around the schools.
Although Mesivtha Tefereth Jerusalem was on the list and P.S. 2 was not, a department spokeswoman, Kay Sarlin, said if two schools are on the same block, only one of the schools is on the priority list because both schools will benefit from changes.
She said, however, there’s no guarantee the pedestrians would have been safer if the department had already made the changes it plans to make in the neighborhood. “Every day in New York, tragic accidents occur that could not have been prevented by engineering or safety modifications, which is unfortunately what happened this morning,” Ms. Sarlin said.
Parents and grandparents picking up their children after school at P.S. 2 yesterday said even if the planned changes wouldn’t have stopped the accident, they’re looking forward to safer roads.
“They should put in more speed bumps,” said Angel Perez, the grandfather of a kindergartner, a second-grader, and a fifth-grader at P.S. 2. “They should close the street.”
He said that he’s seen a few accidents in the neighborhood in recent years, and that he makes sure he picks up the children every day. He also said he’s thankful yesterday’s accident didn’t happen at pick-up or drop-off time.
The campaign coordinator for Transportation Alternatives, Kit Hodges, said even though it’s not clear that planned changes near the two schools could have made pedestrians safer, the transportation department’s Safe Routes to School program is a “wonderful” scheme. She said the department shouldn’t limit its changes to the 135 elementary and middle schools listed as having the most urgent needs.