There were 14 people injured in a multi-vehicle crash in Brooklyn Thursday evening that included an MTA bus with passengers, police officials said.
The crash was caused by a person driving a stolen SUV that allegedly ran a stop sign, causing a chain reaction between the bus and another SUV in Canarsie.
The incident began at 6 p.m. when cops from the 69th Precinct spotted the vehicle, a Toyota Highlander, allegedly speeding and having a defective tail light. Police say the Toyota took off and police broke off the pursuit to avoid a collision.
However, police say the Toyota, which was stolen from the 67th Precinct area in East Flatbush and containing three young teenagers, ran a stop sign at East 87th Street and Avenue M at 6:09 p.m., striking a B-103 bus with 9 passengers and the driver, causing the bus to cross lanes and strike a westbound BMW SUV, causing both to end up on the sidewalk.
A total of 10 people on the bus were injured, which included the driver, one driver of the BMW and three in the Toyota. Miraculously, all of the injuries were minor, police said.
“I was in my house and I heard a loud bang,” said William Samuels, a resident of East 87th Street. “I came out and I see the bus and the BMW leaning against a brick wall of the house and people were screaming.”
“The gold color car was on fire, the one kid had a broken leg, cops pulled the other out and arrested him. It was almost like they were chasing them.” Esther Sullivan, a resident of East 87th Street.
“This is pure chaos, it is 6 in the evening, I’ve never seen anything like this over here, there are about to be a lot of rich people on the bus.” Roger King also a resident of the community.
“The firefighters were working to cut the woman out of the BMW. It is a miracle she survived,” said Kim Stevens of Canarsie.
Another resident said people race through this avenue and two years ago, a car struck a tree close to where this crash occurred.
All three of those in the Toyota were arrested, all under the age of 20, police officials said. Charges against all three were pending.
Police officials emphasized that they had discontinued the pursuit and nine minutes later, the crash occurred. The crash is under investigation by police and the MTA.
