Horrid crash in White Plains, NY

[DavidS]

Wrong way crash in Taconic leaves 8 dead - 7/27/09 - New York News and Tri-State News - 7online.com

HAWTHORNE (WABC) -- Eight people, including four children, were killed in multi-car accident on the Taconic State Parkway near Route 117 in Hawthorne Sunday.



Authorities say a van with six passengers was traveling southbound in the northbound lanes just after 2 p.m. when it struck an SUV head on. After the collision, the van hit another vehicle before rolling down an embankment and bursting into flames.

Four cousins, all under the age of 10, who were riding in the minivan were killed, as was the driver. The fifth child in the van was rushed from the scene to Westchester Medical Center. The driver is said to be the 36-year-old mother of the surviving child. Another of her children, a daughter, was among those killed. They were part of a family from Floral Park and West Babylon, on Long Island.


A witness, Katrina Papha, who was traveling north on the parkway to a family barbecue in Mahopac, said she saw the accident in her rearview mirror.


"One car goes this way, one goes that way, up in the air, both of them," she said. "I was crying. I was shaking."


Her brother, Peter Dedvukaj, driving in another vehicle, said he saw smoke ahead and traffic came to a standstill.


"People were getting out to help, shouting, 'We need help! We need help!"' Dedvukaj said. "Everybody said, 'There are kids in the car."'
He said he and others opened a door of the minivan and "there was a body in front of us." He said they helped pull out the children they could see - two girls, who appeared to be dead, and a boy, who was kicking and screaming.



The children who died were girls ages 2, 5, 7 and 9. The surviving child, a boy, is 5. LaGrippo said that when he got to the scene, the minivan was engulfed in flames. He said one of the children was dead, and three others were near death.



The three people in the SUV, all men from Yonkers, were also were killed. Two people in the third vehicle survived the crash.


With white sheets spread across a portion of the median, one by one, the victims were taken from the scene and into waiting vans, as police and firefighters stood nearby.

How do you cope with that? How do you cope with finding three children, just in a horrible crash, near death?


That's the kind of thing that keeps you awake at night just thinking about it. This guy had to view it.

 

[noose4]

absolutely horrible, it reminds me of a terrible accident that happened next to the building i grew up in, a man parked his car outside the hotel next door and went across the street to the store while his family, a wife and 3 children, waited in the car, while the man was in the store an out of control truck ran over and crushed the car with his family inside, reading of tragdies such as this one in white plains always brings me back to that day in 1983.

 

[johnrocks]

Both stories are terrible, just shows how fragile our lives are I suppose.

 

[xotoxi]

Wicked bad!

Wicked bad!