A crowd displayed superhuman strength this weekend as they rescued a man trapped in his overturned car. After the heroic rescue, they all made a shocking discovery.
A minivan driving at high speed through a Brooklyn neighborhood on Saturday, colliding head-on with two parked vehicles and overturning.
Surveillance video from a home on Howard and Blake Avenues in Brownsville showed the minivan first colliding with a black Jeep and a maroon pickup truck, before the minivan overturned and landed on its driver’s side.
The driver, later identified by police as Olubunmi Awoluyi, 61, was trapped and in serious danger of being crushed, witnesses said.
Residents trickled out of their homes to see what the commotion was. It was impossible to ignore, with one eyewitness saying ABC7 the crash ‘sounded like a bomb going off. I mean, it was really, really loud.’
In the split second before the minivan hits the parked Jeep, it’s clear the hood has already been dented
It then hits the left rear of the Jeep, causing it to roll over.
The minibus also hits the maroon truck before ending up on its side
Eudes James, owner of both the Jeep and the truck that were hit, led a group of good Samaritans who helped turn the minivan around.
About a dozen men were able to push the wrecked car back upright and rescue the driver.
‘[The driver] bleeding from his mouth. There was blood on the road. It was pretty scary to see someone pinned down and crushed,” James said CBS.
Eventually, police officers and firefighters arrived on the scene and made a discovery that shed light on the shocking events.
They discovered two bottles of alcohol at the scene. There was a bottle of Hennessey visible on the sidewalk and another bottle still in the minivan driven by Awoluyi.
“When the firefighter on scene opened the door, the liquor bottle fell out,” said witness Shanique Fox.
Police later said that before he crashed, Awoluyi was driving drunk on the Rockaway Parkway, a long, straight road that runs through Brownsville and Canarsie.
As he raced down the road, he struck two other vehicles, police said, then made a U-turn and struck a 26-year-old woman and a 3-year-old girl.
The woman is the child’s mother and was pushing the child in a stroller when they were both hit.
A mix of residents and people who happened to be in the area helped turn around the crashed minibus
About a dozen men took part in the Herculean effort, which succeeded
According to police, the girl suffered minor injuries, while the woman was unconscious and unresponsive. Both were taken to a local hospital and are expected to make a full recovery.
Delivery driver Danny Square was present at both scenes. He first saw Awoluyi allegedly hit the two pedestrians, which convinced Square to follow the driver.
“I don’t know where he went, he was trying to hit someone and get away, so I had to chase him,” Square said. NBC 4 New York.
The same surveillance camera that captured the final crash site also captured Square arriving on his bike. Square was part of the makeshift rescue crew that got the minivan back on its wheels.
Square claimed there were three open Hennessy bottles in the minivan.
Awoluyi was charged with driving under the influence, reckless driving and leaving the scene of an accident, police said.