The family of a man killed in a crash involving an FDNY truck and an Access-A-Ride bus in Brooklyn last week is planning to take legal action.
It happened March 10 in Gravesend.
Ring camera footage shows an Access-A-Ride bus come to a stop as FDNY Ladder 149 approaches along Avenue S. The firetruck runs a red light as a white van speeds through a green, leading to a massive collision in front of the Access-A-Ride before it was then hit by the truck.
Placido “Butch” D’Andrea, a 78-year-old passenger of the Access-A-Ride, was killed. His wife, also a passenger, spent more than a week in the hospital and was just released.
Placido “Butch” D’Andrea, 78, was killed in a crash in Brooklyn on March 10, 2026.
Photo provided
Attorney Michael Iakovou says they’re still investigating the crash and building a case, questioning:Â why the white van drove through the green without yielding; whether Access-A-Ride employees properly secured D’Andrea, who was in a wheelchair; whether the FDNY ladder proceeded through the red light with “due care,” as state law mandates, and how long the truck’s lights and sirens had been on.
“I have reason to believe that the sirens weren’t turned on enough time before entering the intersection,” Iakovou said. “It’s clear that there were multiple parties at fault here.”
The FDNY said at the time the ladder was responding to a call to relocate to a nearby firehouse and told us Thursday that the incident is still under internal investigation. The MTA, who operates Access-A-Ride, referred us to the FDNY’s investigation.
CBS News New York reached out to the owner of the white commercial van to ask whether he had spoken to the driver and has not yet heard back.
The crash happened just half a block away from D’Andrea’s family home, where their daughter Laurie Tesauro was getting dinner ready.
“I run around the block, and it was her and my father. And then I called my husband and just said, ‘Get here now,'” Tesauro said. “My mother looked over at my father and said, ‘Butch, are you OK?’ And he replied, ‘No.’ And that’s the last words my mom will ever hear from my father’s mouth.”
Tesauro said her parents were about to celebrate 54 years of marriage, and she still can’t fathom the series of events that cut her dad’s life short.