I just saw a really dramatic car crash on Court Street in downtown Brooklyn, and feel compelled to write my first blog post in 3 months about it.
I was walking south on Court street between Sackett and Degraw when I first heard and then saw a black BMW 540 accelerating hard across the junction, presumably trying to beat the lights.
The car made it across the intersection, but the roads were slick from the rain that’d been falling on and off all afternoon, and the thing about Beemers is that they’re all rear-wheel drive… Pretty soon the BMW began fish-tailing wildly all over the road before spinning out of control and slamming into at least two other cars — a parked, unoccupied Mercedes C230, and a mid-sized Ford SUV (an Explorer, maybe) with a single driver aboard.
Incredibly, no-one was injured. The driver of the BMW (which had Carolina plates) got out and started walking around to survey the scene. He looked pretty calm, although was probably in mild shock. I spoke to the driver of the Ford — an elderly local guy — and gave him my details after confirming he was OK in case he needed a witness.
I was struck by how easily there could have been a cyclist or a pedestrian in the middle of this demolition derby; without the protection of a steel safety cage around them, they wouldn’t have stood a chance.