A driver lost control of his car Sunday morning and slammed into a food truck and TD Bank at the same Manhattan intersection where one day earlier a cyclist and woman sitting on a bench were run down by a car, police said.
The Manhattan Bridge funnels into Canal Street and Bowery, where a 25-year-old slammed into the food truck and commercial building around 3 a.m. according to police. A 20-year-old operating the food truck was treated at a nearby hospital for minor injuries.
Police said the driver of the car remained at the scene and was taken into police custody. A female passenger in the car, 21 years old, was also treated for minor injuries.
The Sunday morning crash happened almost 24 hours after two people were mowed down at the same intersection, struck and killed by a driver that witnesses said came flying off the bridge.
“They were going at least 70 [mph], whipping off the bridge,” one witness said. “They come off the bridge. Next thing you know they hit these two people, clipped them.”
A man on a bike and a woman sitting on a bench on the sidewalk were killed after being struck by the Chevy Malibu. Police later identified the victims as 55-year-old Kevin Cruickshank of Manhattan and 63-year-old May Kwok of Brooklyn.
Police say the driver also rammed into a parked NYPD van, which sent the mangled vehicle into a nearby jewelry store.
The remnants of the violent crash were scattered across the street: a tree brought down, bench thrown from its position, and shoes left covering the road.
Police said the driver and passenger, inside the Chevy, left the scene but were taken into custody about a block away. Both women are in their early 20s, according to police.
“They got to put up Jersey barriers or some kind of a permanent barrier there to keep people safe,” Karlin Chan said.
