New York City police are trying to figure out what caused a garbage truck to lose control and set off a chain reaction that left a woman dead and three other people injured.
Wild surveillance video of the crash shows the out-of-control truck striking multiple cars on First Avenue in East Harlem at around 6:30 a.m. Tuesday.
The truck hit an unoccupied Kia Forte parked at the intersection of 101st Street and First Avenue, sending the sedan up over the curb and into scaffolding that collapsed outside of a NYCHA building at 345 E. 101st St.
“It looked like a massacre, like a movie,” witness Timothy Manley said.
Crash leads to fatal scaffolding collapse
Police said the crash killed 75-year-old Li Liang, who was underneath the scaffolding when it came crashing down.
NYCHA building super Vincent Medina said Liang and her husband lived there.
“Her daughter came to me, ‘Tell me that’s not my mom! Tell me that’s not my mom!'” Medina said.
Jose Martin, who works at a smoke shop near the scene, said Liang was a fixture on the block.
“You would see her every morning going to the fire hydrant to get water to feed the plants,” Martin said. “Just sucks, because there’s a person who cared.”
“She was mad nice. A sweet lady,” Jacqueline Bryant, who witnessed the crash, said.
The crash left three other people hospitalized with minor injuries — another pedestrian, the 47-year-old truck driver and a 50-year-old passenger.
Tow trucks hauled away the vehicles that were totaled.
Truck owned by New Jersey-based company
The city’s Department of Buildings responded to the scene to check the building’s structural integrity after the crash.
The Metro North Plaza Tenant Association president said the scaffolding was replaced about three months ago when the building came under new management. He said it was put in place to make sure the building facade stays in place.
The garbage truck is owned and operated by the New Jersey-based company Classic Recycling, which specializes in waste management in the New York City area.
“We are continuing to gather information about his tragic accident and are unable to provide further details at this time,” a spokesperson for Classic Recycling said in a statement.
The spokesperson said the garbage truck driver and passenger were released from the hospital.
It was not immediately clear if the accident was weather-related or due to human error.
There have been no charges filed or arrests made at this time.
contributed to this report.
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