A 78-year-old Gravesend, Brooklyn, man was killed just half a block from his home in a chain-reaction crash involving an FDNY ladder truck on Tuesday night.
Surveillance video shows a white commercial van heading north on West 11th Street when a fire truck slams into it at the intersection of Avenue S at around 6:45 p.m.
The fire truck then crashes head-on into an Access-A-Ride van, which then slams into a Lexus behind it.
Placido D’Andrea, who was on board the Access-A-Ride, was killed. His wife, who was a passenger on the same vehicle, remains hospitalized. Residents in the area said D’Andrea and his wife live a half a block away from the intersection, and they were on their way home from a medical treatment D’Andrea’s wife was receiving.
Witnesses said the couple’s daughter was at their home at the time, and discovered what happened to her parents at the crash scene.
“Nice family. Nice people. It’s a shame,” one area resident said.
“Sad for the girl, and her family, actually. ‘Cause she lost her father and her mother’s in the hospital,” one neighbor said. “They always stayed on the porch. Quiet people. Family people.”
Five firefighters along with the drivers of the commercial van, Lexus and Access-A-Ride were all hospitalized, along with two other passengers. All are said to be in stable condition.
The FDNY truck had its lights and sirens on as it went through the red light, witnesses said.
The accident is under investigation and no arrests have been made.
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