A black Ford Explorer moving southbound on Nassau Boulevard in Garden City Park last Thursday afternoon crossed the grass median, headed into oncoming traffic, and struck two vehicles before tumbling to a stop on its roof.
Witnesses said the Explorer was moving at high speed when it crossed the median, struck a blue Dodge Ram pickup truck on the side and collided with a black Jeep SUV traveling northbound on the road at approximately 3 p.m. on May 9.
An unidentified woman who was driving the Explorer and her daughter were pulled from the wreckage of the car by two Garden City Park Water District employees, who witnessed the accident from the parking lot of a 7-Eleven on the northwest corner of the intersection. The Explorer landed on its roof on the east side of the intersection at Nassau Boulevard and Atlantic Avenue in Garden City Park.
“I saw it coming and went up on the sidewalk,” said Dominick Patti, who was driving the Dodge truck northbound on Nassau Boulevard when he said he saw the driver of the Explorer apparently lose control of the vehicle. “I was prepared for something.”
Patti said his reaction in pulling up on the sidewalk of the west side of the street enabled him to avoid injury. But the Explorer left a deep dent in the rear left side of his vehicle, caroming off it according to witnesses an into the front end of the Jeep SUV traveling northbound at the time.
“She was going fast,” Garden City Park Water District worker Steve Alcarese said of the woman driver. “She hit that truck then hit [the Jeep] and flipped right over.”
The mother and daughter in the Explorer were fitted with neck braces and placed on stretchers by Nassau County Police medics at the scene and taken to Winthrop-University Hospital, according to Garden City Park Fire Department Chief Roger Green. Members of the Garden City Park Fire Department responded to the scene with minutes of the accident along with Nassau County Police.
A young woman driving the Jeep and two female companions appeared shaken but were not seriously injured. The unidentified driver was also fitted with a neck brace at the scene and were also taken to Winthrop, Green said.
Alcarese and fellow Garden City Park Water District worker Phil Macari said they ran across the street after observing the accident to help the mother and daughter in the Explorer.
“I pulled the out the daughter from one side,” Alcarese said. “I’m happy they’re alive.”
“I’m happy I could help out,” said Macari, who said he pulled the driver out from the other side of the overturned vehicle.
Members of the Garden City Park Fire Department spread material over the oil-slicked road in the aftermath of the accident.
“Everybody’s in one piece. That’s all that matters,” one of the Garden City Park firemen said.
Nassau County Police declined to release the names of any of the individuals involved in the accident.
