News: Freak Accidents on Long Island
(Long Island, N.Y.) A forty-eight-year-old man from New York City was killed Tuesday morning while driving his bakery delivery truck. The driver attempted to speed through railroad cross gates and was impacted by an express train of the Long Island Rail Road. The incident occurred during the morning rush hour, at roughly seven that morning.
Reports stated that the train was containing an estimated three-hundred people during the time of the incident. Authorities and spokesmen from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority stated that the westbound train crashed into the truck just east of Deer Park Avenue. At least one passenger was hospitalized for suffering from a shoulder fracture as a result of the collision.
Some reports stated that at least two people had been injured after the impact of the truck, but that only one chose to accept treatment. The accident caused services to be suspended for train stops between Ronkonkoma and Farmingdale. Many commuters, who had been previously frustrated by the Long Island Rail Road’s ongoing service issues, were resolved to find alternate means of transportation.
Long Island Rail Road personnel advised commuters to use alternate branches, such as the Huntington/Port Jefferson branch or Babylon branch for speedier service. Long Island buses were provided for passengers and transported them to alternate stations before they continued to travel westward. Effects of the incident were amplified by the busyness of the morning commute.
Authorities and staff of the Long Island Rail Road announced that standard service was restored by the evening rush hour. Not much information has been released concerning the driver’s identity. Followers of the case are still looking to explain why the driver chose to risk his life by attempting to beat the train instead of waiting for it to pass.
In other news, an elevator on West 19th Street in Chelsea dropped three floors while containing twenty-four workers. The incident occurred at roughly seven this morning and twenty-two people had to be taken to the local hospital. Some claim that if it wasn’t for the barely-functional brake, they would have suffered greater injuries.
The elevator reversed directions on the fourth floor of the building and crashed into the ground level. Since the incident, nine have complained of back and neck pain. Thankfully, no life-threatening injuries have been caused by the accident.
Many of those inside the elevator were construction workers set to renovate offices for the SEIU health workers union. They claimed to grab each other and the walls during the drop that caused them to fear for their lives. Allegedly, they all fell to the floor and managed to crawl out.
Some have compared the experience to a rollercoaster ride, and some claimed that the elevator was old and problematic. The fourth, fifth, and sixth floors of the building had been previously occupied by corporate offices. Some of the offices were for the Gap and Old Navy.
